MUNITIONS SUPPLY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24529, 11 February 1941, Page 6

MUNITIONS SUPPLY

BOMBS AND MORTARS DOMINION MANUFACTURE DUNEDIN PLAYS ITS PART It is only six months since s Department, of Munitions was established in the Dominion, following a visit to Australia by the Minister of Supply and Munitions, Mr D. G. Sullivan, but already industrial organisations throughout the Dominion are reaching a massproduction stage. Dunedin is playing no small part in the manufacture of weapons of war, and 11 Arms are now enraged in the production of munitions of various kinds, chiefly trench mortars, bombs, and bomb parts. Some of the fruits of the. concentrated effort that has been made in New Zealand since July were inspected yesterday.by Mr. Sullivan, who spent a busy day in some of the factories which are engaged in war work of a vital nature. The Railway Workshops at Hillside, where trench mortars are being . turned out in ever-inpreasing quantities, are,. possibly, the focal point of Dunedin's munitions production, but the other firms engaged in similar work- are co-op»rating to the fullest extent. During a detailed inspection of the factories so. engaged. Mr Sullivan expressed satisfaction at the mariner in which operatives were so successfully carrying out their work. Rapid Progress "In the short time that has elapsed since my return from Australia with plans for the commencement of munitions manufacture in New Zealand," Mr Sullivan said, in a short talk to munitions workers, "we have created a Munitions Department, drawn up plans and specifications, and put out between 130 and 140 orders to firms throughout the Dominion. Already we have built Bren gun carriers, and an extensive programme has come into being. I would like to leave with you the thought that throughout New Zealand- to-day riien and women are dependent upon your efforts and the efforts of other munitions workers. On you may depend the answer to the question: If we are attacked, can we resist and maintain the right to live our.lives in our own way? . The Minister added that he had great faith in the . Dominion's. capacity to engage successfully in industry arid he maintained that the people of New Zealand were perhaps better qualified to engage in such fields as those overseas. They had the men and the women, and the industrial genius that would allow them to become a great manufacturing country, but at the present time the situation was more serious. It was a question of life and death, and of whether the country could resist an attack that might come at any minute. Work at' Hillside Mr Sullivan spent a considerable time examining the trench mortars that have been turned out at the Hillside Workshops. Not only are the mortars made at the workshops, byt the precision tools for their manufacture had first to be manufactured locally. Such work calls for patience and skill on the part of men who have had little or no experience in the manufacture of munitions and the manner in which the tools themselves, quite apart from the weapons, have been made, speaks volumes tor the efficiency and determination of the artisans concerned. ' In another factory in the city bombs for the mortars are being produced in ever- increasing quantities. Made from cast steel or cast iron, depending on whether they are high explosive or smoke bombs, the missiles are cast and turned ready for the deadly explosive. And here again it was found necessary to make the tools fbr the jigs, and lathes-r-before the more important task could be undertaken. Other factories are busy with small aerial bombs and parts of Mills bombs. A Vital Cog . Dunedin is but a cog in the wheel that is beginning to turn faster in the production of munitions, but it is a vital cog, because the work has been spread throughout., the Dominion ,to avoid possible delay. . This point was stressed'by the,Minister during his tour of inspection, when he. pointed out that every cog in the machine was needed arid that if one should fail the whole machine would be thrown out of gear. Every worker was called on for loyalty, because loyalty to the job meant loyalty to the country.