MAN-POWER PROBLEM

Evening Star, Issue 25323, 3 November 1944, Page 2

MAN-POWER PROBLEM

HOW AUSTRALIA HAS SOLVED IT BIGGEST PROPORTIONATE ARMY OF ALLIES LARGE RELEASES FOR PRODUCTION (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Nov. 3. " The greatest problem that has faced the Australian Government since the outbreak of the Pacifio War has been the provision of sufficient man power to jnaiiitain essential services, provide for production and the processing of food, and staff our war industries, while not impairing the fighting efficiency of the three services," stated the Commonwealth Minister of the Army, Mr Forde. to-day. "At its peak the Australian army in relation to our population was proportionately larger than that of any one of the United Nations. Obviously, it has been impossible to maintain the army at that peak figure. Jungle fighting can be sustained only by the young or comparatively young men. Successive exhausting and exacting campaigns m the jungle-clad mountains or ovenhot valleys of New Guinea have proved to us that there is an age limit beyond which no man should be allowed to light. " But the demands on our man-power bool have been such that Ave bad to employ our 'B' class personnel in less difficult base and advanced 'base areas of New Guinea. We have, too, freed many men for forward service by the enlistment of up to 20,000 women_ in the Australian Women's Army Service. These women have served in the far north—in the Northern Territory and Northern Queensland—and their duties have ranged from clerical work to staffing anti-aircraft defences. ''The pushing back of the invasion danger has released for service beyond the Commonwealth many thousands of men who had been posted for-many months in remote areas as garrison troops. The release of men for food production and processing has been so planned that neither the number nor the fighting, efficiency of pur offensive iorces has been impaired." After referring to the enormous- de-. mand on Australian production, Mr Forde said the first step to meet the issue was the release from service over a period of months of 20,000 men, who were to be employed either growing food or processing it for the forces. Few of these specialists with exclusive qualifications—had come from the fighting units, most having been B rslass men; and the total release so effected had been-offset by raising the enlistments of -women. Now, faced with almost insatiable demands for food, the Government was releasing an additional 30,000 from the Army and 15,000 from the Air Force. The Army's quota would not come from combatant units, but. by careful selection, from units which normally would not be required to go overseas. " Despite all the demands," Mr Forde concluded, "the Australian Government is determined completely to discharge its obligations to the United Nations' cause, and will continuously maintain under arms more men than passed through the Australian Army in the entire four years of last war."