ARMAMENTS PRODUCTION

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 November 1940, Page 8

ARMAMENTS PRODUCTION

AUSTRALIA’S DEVELOPMENT [BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.] RUGBY, November 27. The Dominions Office reports further steps towards Australia’s goal of self-sufficiency in munitions. After working at high pressure for months, the Munitions Ministry has brought to an advanced stage a project for manufacturing 25-pounder guns in the Commonwealth. This is one of the largest armament undertakings attempted in the country and. already it has involved an expenditure of £4,000,000. Production will commence in March at the new Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation plant at Lidcombe, Sydney, and 1000 highly-skilled engineers will be engaged exclusively in manufacturing engines for bombers and certain types of fighters.. The demands on Australia for rifles and machine-guns for shipment .to various part's of the Empire are increasing. To meet them the Government is to strengthen facilities for the production of rifles, Bren and Vickers guns. There is to be a further speedup also in the production of aeroplanes. .

The term of appointment of Mr. Leslie Lefeaux as Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will expire next month. Questioned yesterday, the Minister for Finance (Mr. Nash) said that the appointment of a successor had not been considered yet by him. Mr. Lefeaux was originally appointed governor for a term of five years. That period expired last year; but his appointment was extended for a further year. Mr. Lefeaux has contributed his salary of £5OOO for his final year to the War Expenses Account. An opinion held in well-informed Government circles is that the appointment to the governorship of Mr. E. C. Fussell, now assistant to the governor would cause no surprise. He was one of the main witnesses for the associated banks before the Monetary Committee which sat in 1934.