NORTHERN IRELAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 June 1940, Page 2

NORTHERN IRELAND

HER WAR EFFORT

LONDON, April 30.

No two corners of the Empire are more closely bound' together by ties of blood and ancestry than New Zealand and Northern Ireland—“the new Ulster and the old Ulster” —asi Lord Craigavon, the Northern Ireland Pi.fr mier, recently put it, and no parts of the Commonwe'alth have mote ily thrown themselves into the fight for freedom against Nazi domination. A substantial part of New Zealand’s population is d'escend'ed from hardy Ulster pioneers, and Ulster to-day is very proud of these links', especially in view of New Zealand’s' magnificent support of the Allied, cause. It may be, therefore, of interest to New Zealanders- to lehrn something of Northern Ireland’s part in the war effort of the United Kingdom of which it is an integral part. Early in 1938, Northern Ireland’s attitude was' declared with emphasis in the words of a resolution passed by the Houses of Parliament at Belfast, “That should any crisis arise, the, British Prime Minister can confidently rely upon Ulster to share the responsibilities and burdens with their kith and kin in other parts' of the United Kingdom and the Empire to the utmost of her resources.”

When hostilities, began, full effect was given to that declaration by a rush to the Colours, the mobilisation of agricultural and industrial resources of the province, the development of women’s war work, organisations, and in many other ways of varying importance. Indeed, the province had a special anxiety to play its part, because. notwithstanding the protest from Its representatives at Westminster, it was excluded from the Compulsory Service, Act, but this anxiety was dissipated quickly and Northern Ireland more than fulfilled its reputation as the most fruitful recruiting area- in the Kingdom. Its 1 three own regular regiments—the, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, the Royal Ulster Rifles, and the Royal Irish.. Fusiliers—were ready for the call, and as these units were full to overflowing, thousands' of young men filtered into other British regiments, in the Royal Navy, Mercantile Marine, and the Royal Ah- Force. Territorial units were recruited to capacity and a new tank regiment, called the North Irish Horse, was raised. Old soldiers of the'famous 36th Ulster Division of the World War could not resist the urge to fill up the ranks of national home defence companies and the Pioneer Corps. It is, therefore, not surprising that hundreds of Ulstermen have, already encountered the common enemy in action, as, for example, at the Battle of the River Plate, in which they fought side by side with the gallant New Zealand cruiser, Achilles. INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY With the establishment of an Area Organisation, .of the Ministry of Supply, industry of variousl kind® 1 in! Northern Ireland has quickly adapted itstelf to war conditions and demands. The accompanying facts, indicate, the immensity of the local effort. To obtain dollar currency, ttiei linen industry is concentrating almost entirely upon expanding its £4,000,000 ■expert trade to the U.S.A., which at present is the second largest individual item of Britain's! trade with that country.

Contracts for Ministry of Supply—--30,000,000 yardsi of various' linen materials and £30,000 worth of orders for lope products as, well as similar large orders for the Admiralty, 33,000' camouflage nets, 400,000 Army x shirts’, 72,000 battle dresses, large quantities' of blankets 1 .

Northern Ireland is also producing, among other things', ships, aeroplanes, tanks, steel and' iron instruments, auxiliary machinery, shells, guns', gun mountings, and gun liners. It possesses' the largest shipbuilding yard in the world'—Harland and Wolff’s 1 — which is- working to capacity. In spite of its' great industrial capacity, Northern Ireland’s main calling isi that of the land, and soon after war broke out, the Government, in close co-operation with the' farmers and the British Government, set about the job of ploughing up an additional 250,000 acres of grassland'—7o per cent, more than its quota. More than 1000 motor tractors were obtained as well as ample supplies, of seed and fertilisers, with the result that not' only was the aim achieved in the scheduled period, but the farmers are now going on towards another 250,000 more acres. Side by side with this successful 'effort is the campaign to grow 50,000 acres of flax this' year—which" represents about ten times, the prewar acreage l —the object being, of course, to provide raw material for the linen industry, thus assisting export trade particularly to America. Livestock production, mainly by way of cattle and; pigs, is the foundation of Northern Ireland’s agricultural system, and its importance to the United Kingdom' in wartime may be appreciated readily from the fact that between one-quarter and one-third of United Kingdom home-prodticedl bacon comes from Northern Ireland. In addition over £2,000,000 worth of eggs are sent to Great Britain every year. It is worthy of note that Northern Ireland produces' far more than her people can possibly consume, and so she is rationed in exactly the same way as the rest of the Kingdom, and the surplus; goes- to the; United Kingdom pool of foodstuffs. Except for conscription of man-pow'er for the fighting service's, Ulster with pride shares equally with Great Britain the financial burdens of the war, despite the not inconsiderable) fact that her taxable capacity as a unit is- much lower than that of Great Britain, and war taxation is thereby a greater weight upon the shoulders of her people.

During the first year of the war. Northern Ireland is to' contribute £2,000,000 to the British Exchequer for war purposes. In addition, the people have entered heartily intoi the' National Savings and Defence Bonds Campaign, towards which upwards of £1,000,000 has 1 already been subscrib>ed, of which 70 per cent, is lent to the British Exchequer. These are illustrations of the'principal directions in which Northern Ireland ‘is playing her part, alongside England, Scotland', and Wales-, towards 1 achieving victory, and they may well demonstrate to loyal New Zealand the determination of the home country in co-operation with other parts of the Commonwealth, to l overcome the evils' of Nazi aggression,