GERMANY’S STRENGTH

Evening Star, Issue 24016, 15 October 1941, Page 5

GERMANY’S STRENGTH

GREAT RESOURCES AVAILABLE EMPIRE FACED BY DIFFICULT TIMES URGENT NEED FOR FULLY-COMBINED EFFORT Grim warnings of the dangers that might lie ahead of ns in the present struggle for liberty, of what might be the outcome of the growing resources of Germany, and that only a full-deter-mined and wholly-unified stand on the part of every New Zealand man and woman would help to ensure victory, were uttered by the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, speaking at the annual meeting of the Dunedin Manufacturers’ Association last night. The respite gained by Russia’s gallant stand in the past few months was ending, he said, and it was now up to the Empire, with the help of her Allies and the United States, to defeat the aggressor with every ounce of energy they could command. There were difficult times ahead of us, Mr Coates said, and no one could look to the future without feeling, not dismay, but concern. He wondered if New Zealanders were properly warconscious; if they realised the encroachment of aggression, of the danger of isolation, of the dangers of the freedom enjoyed in the past being cut off“ln the last few months,” he said, “ we have had a respite—it has been no more than that—thanks to Russia, but that country is now up against it, and is fighting with its back to the wall!” There had been a big encroachment into Russian territory, a big capture of raw materials, including oil and vital raw produce, a capture of factories, which if destroyed by the Russians could ,be rebuilt. Hitler had gained enormous resources from all over Europe -which he had over-run. No matter what troubles he faced in the occupied countries, no matter if production of the factories was not up to the maximum, the fact remained that the amount of materials available to Germany was amazing. AMAZING RESOURCES.

Mr Coates quoted a Jong list of materials which Hitler could now depend upon drawing from Europe, aftd among these there was nearly 60 per cent, of the world’s wheat supply (including Russian .sources), barley 42 per cent., potatoes 80 per cent., beet sugar 57 per cent, hemp 61 per cent., wood pulp 50 per cent., benzol 56 per cent., lignite 96 per cent., coal 32 per cent., iron ore 43 per cent, copper and manganese 20 per c'ent., lead ore 20 per cent., zinc 30 per cent., aluminium 55 per cent. He was not getting much wool, very little flax, and only 7 per cent, crude petroleum, hut nevertheless these were tremendous resources of which Hitler could make full use.

The only possible way the British Empire and America could meet them would be to make the fullest use of all their own resources. New Zealand must pull in with the perfect co-operation and co-ordination which alone would enable ns to win through. EVERY OUNCE OF ENERGY NEEDED. To meet the situation, Mr Coates declared, every single individual in the country, male or female, would have to exert every ounce of energy if Hitler were to be defeated. Only by the calling forth of a determined _ effort could we retain those things which we held decent—the right to live under any Government we thought fit, the right to bring up our children without fear of their being ground under the heel of the aggressor. There was a tremendous power in the hands of the aggressor, and every one of us would have to combine to defeat it. Nothing would he achieved if the support of all was not forthcoming. ONLY ONE AjM TO-DAY. The power and the latent power possessed by the aggressor, Mr Coates went on, were not fully appreciated by everyone. They did not realise the tough and rough road that lay ahead, through which there was no easy way. The present was no time for divided groups. The present was no time to worry about profits. “ Who,” he asked, “ should care about profit to-day when the one aim must be to get the very best out of everything we haveP What should it matter if I be a Socialist and you a Conservative? The call should go forth for everyone to meet aggression, for each one of us to pull together, doing our damnedest, and asking others to do their damnedest, to work at a continued pressure so that a continuous output of necessary materials he kept up. This is our chance and our time, and we shall produce the will and the determination to go through with it. NO TIME FOR POLITICS. “ This is not the time to talk politics of any kind, or to be arguing about politics of any kind,” Mr Coates continued, amid a burst of “ Hear, hears.” ‘‘There is. only one typo of politics to-day, and that is: ‘Who is with us to get the oppressor down and to keep him down?’ Even if we go dead flat afterwards a determined combined effort would leave us with the pride and satisfaction that we had stepped into the breach when asked to d° so.” We must forget our difference of opinion and team together, Mr Coates went on. We must forgot the belief in politics that some held. There was a war on, a war -which threatened our lives and liberties. We could not afford to take the chance that Russia could hold the invaders. Wo should look at the position in the light that Russia could not hold them; that would be the host thing for us. The British Commonwealth of Nations must go forward with grim determination, and the little things must be forgotten. We must drive on together in the one great thing that lay ahead to-day.” Mr C. V. Smith moved a hearty vote of thanks to the speaker, which was carried bv acclamation and the singing of “For he’s a jolly good fellow.”