FINE WAR EFFORT

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24133, 27 November 1941, Page 11

FINE WAR EFFORT

SOUTH AFRICA'S PART TROOPS AND MUNITIONS M.P.'S DOMINION MISSION The remarkable war effort achieved by South Africa, in spite of the deep divisions in the country, was described yesterday by Mr. Leslie Blackwell, a member of the South African Parliament, who has arrived on a goodwill mission to the New Zealand Government. Mr. Blackwell, who was in Egypt only a month ago, said the morale of the South African troops training for the present offensive was very high. A member cf the Government Party in South Africa, Mr. Blackwell has represented one of the Johannesburg constituencies continuously for the last 26 years. He was sent by the Prime Minister. General Smuts, to assure the new Australian Government of South Africa's goodwill, and was instructed i! time permitted to continue the trip to New Zealand. High Morale o! Troops Mr. Blackwell, who visited the Dominion five years ago, said he was especially glad to be back at a time when New Zealanders and South Africans were fighting side by side in Libya. Four weeks ago he met in Egypt the commander of the South African Division now fighting so gallantly. While he could "not give his name at present, he could say that lie was a Boer, and that more than half his men had Afrikaans names.

Ever since the close of the Abyssinian campaign, South African troops in Kgypt had been training intensively for the present offensive. Their general told him they were in the best of condition and on their toes waiting for the attack they knew was coming. Inspired Leadership "In spite of very grave divisions of opinion which exist in South Africa on the war issue, and the factthat a very strong and influential section of Afrikaans opinion is not only republican and anti-British, but professes to welcome the prospect of a German victory," Mr. Blackwell said. "South Afhica has recruited over 120,000 men from a white population of 2,000,000. and its industrial war effort is second only to that of Australia. We are making 3.7 in. howitzers, armoured cars, bombs up to 5001b.. and are acting generally as a workshop for the Middle East, while our ports are a repair shop for the British Fleet. "Under the inspired leadership of Field-Marshal Smuts (whom everybody persists in calling General Smuts) the country is well organised and pulling its weight or more than its weight in the common struggle." Auckland's Beautiful Approach Asked if he had any specific proposals to place before the New Zealand Government, Mr. Blackwell said he had not, but added that Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, the three great southern partners in the British Commonwealth, saw far too little oi each other. That was why the South African Government felt he should extend his visit to New Zealand. Mr Blackwell added that he had travelled 18,000 miles to reach the Dominion, and he had never seen anything more beautiful than the approach to Auckland on a bright sunny afternoon. The city, with its harbour and surrounding green fields, made a most attractive picture. Mr. Blackwell will leave for the couth this morning, and will be in New Zealand for a little over a week.