MUNITIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15964, 8 July 1915, Page 10

MUNITIONS.

•Sir.—Why lias the question of making i munitions :n New Zealand been dropped! j Our indifference is appalling. A proprietor of a small-arms ammunition works . and his manager tell us to leave things as ; they are. A weekly paper takes up their i theme, namely, the war will be over before i v. e can do anything. How do they know j when the war will be over ? Germany has j been preparing 40 yeais. and they would ! nut have us prepare for nine months ahead, j Everyday we are told what wo are up ' against, but we will not heed. Let Aus- : tralia, India. Canada make munitions, but do not let us even talk about it. Let i South Africa send men home to work on | munitions. We offered some once and they ' were refused, so we will not offer again. ! You reported a few days since that a ; Blenheim firm had turned out an 18- | pounder shell which the Defence authori- 1 ties used, and found thoroughly efficient." ! In the same column one member of the j Legislative Council states " there are m> i facilities in New Zealand for such work." j and a'cthr-r. that "it is not necessary to repeat our offer to send workers Home." I know nothing about the making of munitions. but as a business man I know the question has not had business treatment. Suppose it took 12 months to turn out shell cases, and the war had ended meantime, where would be the crime of our being able to make our own ammunition ? We rightly spend hundreds of thousands Oil . our wounded, why squash the discussion of spending thousands to prevent t'.ie men being wounded ? We ought to keep repeating our offer of munition workers to the Home Government, if only to show what we think of their slackers. I was told that the English worker would not allow, in this life-and-death struggle •\ith Germany, a colonial to be paid £1 a week more than his own rate of pay. If this be so, I -will gladly provide £1 week tor one approved New Zealander from, the day he starts work in England until the «nd of the war. be that end five years hence- lam sure many others will do the same. * Disgusted.