THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1940 THE SINEWS OF WAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23599, 7 March 1940, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1940 THE SINEWS OF WAR

Some months before the. outbreak of war, a German publicist, less rigidly drilled and disciplined in falsehood and distortion than the rest of Goebbels' minions, confessed quite frankly that, in the event of armed conflict, the assistance likely to be extended to Great Britain by the Dominions would be incalculable.

The proved productive capacity of the various Empire countries must have been well known to the Nazi rulers before they chose to plunge the world into war, but what they have preferred to ignore is the tremendous expansion in industrial development that can be called forth by the challenge of battle. Both in man-power and materials, provided they are efficiently organised, the Allies have a convincing advantage over Germany, but the younger countries of the British Empire, no less than Britain and France, have a duty to see that their economic resources are so effectively mobilised that the Allied superiority can be constantly maintained. Recent com

menl from Rugby reveals the increased weight that the Dominions are capable of exerting in the Empire's war effort. Authoritative figures are quoted to show that the number of factories in the Dominions and India has increased by about 30,000 since 1914, while the number of industrial workers has risen by 69 per cent. More significant still is the advance in the value of industrial production by 170 per cent in the combined output of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa and by 156 per cent in Canada. In none of these countries have industrial resources been fully explored. An incalculable potential still exists and throughout the younger nations of the British Commonwealth an organised effort in farm and factory, in mine and workshop, must yield results just as important as those foreshadowed in the magnificent military contribution that has already been made to the Empire's cause.

Wars are won by men and materials and man-power must be measured from the productive as well as the military angle. In numerous respects the developed resources of the Dominions are already sufficient to tip the balance in the Allies' favour. The production of pig-iron j and steel provides a case in point. I Here Germany has a slight advantI age over the domestic production of Britain and France —18,700,000 metric tons as against 16,600,000 in pig-iron, and 23,790,000 tons as i against 21,100,000 in the case of steel. Canada and Australia, however, can come to the rescue. Their combined production of 3,900,000 tons of pig-iron and 3,700,000 tons of steel puts the Allies comfortably ahead, without allowing for the fact that the iron and steel industry in both these countries is capable of greatly increased output. In the matter of copper, lead and zinc—all metals of military importanceGermany could show an even greater measure of superiority over Britain and France were it not for the mines of the Dominions, which produce 10 times the amount of copper obtainable in Germany, nearly five times the amount of lead and nearly twice the amount of zinc. The comparison with regard to textiles, petroleum and rubber is even more marked. Attention must also be paid to the production of foodstuffs and in this respect somewhat different considerations apply. Germany grows the greater part of her own food but, as Mr. Geoffrey Crowther, a leading English economist, points out in a recent pamphlet, this is far more prodigal of manpower than the British method of buying food from overseas in return for manufactured goods. He estirri- | ates that 1.400,000 people in Britain are employed directly in the production of food, with a further 1,600.000 employed indirectly by virtue of their production of the goods exchanged for imported foodstuffs. Germany, on the other hand, without allowing for her newly conquered territories, requires the direct labour of 9,200,000 persons and the indirect labour of 300,000 in order to feed her population. All these facts are distinctly encouraging but they can be robbed of their importance if there is the slightest slackening of effort in employing to the. full the economic advantages thus disclosed. As the grip of the blockade tightens and as the stocks of reserve materials in the Reich run low. Germany will be forced to devote even greater attention to the production of substitutes. These artificial materials which are already being used in large quantities have the disadvantage of being expensive—expensive because, in the main, they require an exceptional labour effort for their production. It follows, then, that if the Allied production of natural raw materials is not only maintained but increased, the proportionate gain in man power and materials will provide us with an overwhelm- i ing strength. As a result of the j economic and military contributions from the Dominions and'|from the j colonial Knipires of Britain and j France, the Allies can unquestion- j ably reach a position where they will outnumber Germany in the men they have to spare for fighting and munition-making," while at the same time they will easily out-distance her in the production of essential materials. But that position can only be reached by unremitting effort in every country where arms have been taken up against the Nazi menace. Those arms cannot prevail on the battle front if the campaign on the home front does not measure up to the same standards of vigour, determination and sacrifice. The Dominions have accomplished much already; it is in their power to accomplish much more.