BRITAIN AT WAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25393, 26 November 1943, Page 2

BRITAIN AT WAR

GREAT INDUSTRIAL EFFORT DEMOBILISATION PROBLEMS INTERNATIONALISM IN TRADE An interesting survey of British war production and of the present and future problems associated with this vast industrial effort was given by Sir Walter Layton, head of the British press delegation which is visiting New Zealand, at a luncheon held by the Dunedin Rotary Club yesterday. The speaker was introduced by Mr W. R. Brown, president of the Rotary Club, who said that the club was honoured in having such a distinguished guest. Sir Walter was chairman of the London NewsChronicle, and formerly an adviser in the Ministry of Supply. He had been closely associated with Britain’s war effort. Diversion of Labour

One of the greatest problems now being faced in Britain was the planning of future production and the redistribution of labour to meet new demands, said Sir Walter Layton. Before the delegation left England he had spent a month touring many of the principal centres of war production, and he had frequently found a downward trend in employment. This was because the production of certain weapons had reached saturation point and the labour was being diverted elsewhere. He gave as an instance a large factory which had produced so many anti-aircraft guns that a considerable proportion of its staff had been redirected into other work, notably the aircraft industry. At one of the largest ammunition-filling factories where 30,000 women had been engaged in full or part-time employment there were now only 16,000. One of the oldest and most extensive cordite plants had released a great many women workers and had retained in their place many men approaching pension age.

These changes had been responsible for much confusion and perplexity amongst the workers, Sir Walter said, and he had frequently been asked to explain the causes of them to large numbers of employees. He had told them that this war was radically different from the last, when munitions had flowed almost uninterruptedly from their source as raw material to the trenches. Nowadays war moved from theatre to theatre with periods of great activity, followed by dull spells. He had told the workers that it had been their job to equip the Empire with guns and ammunition, but the stage had now been reached where, for every 10 rounds of 25-pounder ammunition that had been produced, less than three had been expended in action or for practice. Of the remainder, two were m store in Britain and five were either in transit or in depots in the various countries. Now that these reserves had been built up it would be necessary to produce something else. Churchill Tank Controversy

Sir Walter quoted the discussion which centred around the Churchill tank as another example of how the morale of workers had been affected. The merits of this tank had been questioned in Parliament and the press, and workers who had spent long hours in making the tanks were constantly reading or hearing the opinion that their product was no good. The “ ugly duckling,” however, had fully vindicated itself in Tunisia.

Sir Walter mentioned a tribute to British planning which was paid by the editor of a widely-read American magazine who had been given the opportunity of inspecting various war industries. “If this is Britain muddling through,” this editor had cabled back to his magazine, “ then Heaven help America! ”

England had still far to go in aircraft production, Sir Walter said. It was no secret that the number of people engaged in Great Britain’s aircraft industry was nearer two millions than one, and their number included a very large percentage of women.

Women were playing a great role in this war. There were to-day as many women in the fighting services as there were men in all three services in July, 1939. This large-scale mobilisation of the womanhood of the nation had its disadvantageous aspects, but without it Britain’s great effort could not have been made. Their demobilisation would create a serious problem, but this would be mitigated partly because so many would desire a quick return to private life and partly because the continuation of the war in the Far East would not involve any sudden cessation of the demand for war supplies. The rebuilding of Britain would also absorb a vast quantity of labour. If demobilisation were slow and orderly there was no reason why the difficulties experienced after the last war should recur. Post-war Planning The post-war problems which would have to be met in Britain would apply equally to all countries, Sir Walter said, and no progress would be achieved without international cooperation. Last time, while all paid lip service to the principle of co-opera-tion, every nation had embarked on a policy of self-sufficiency and everyone had failed. The nation in which this type of exclusive mentality had been most highly developed was the United States, and it was in the United States that the crack had first appeared which had resulted in a world-wide fall in prices. Real progress would be achieved only by a true spirit of cooperation and the helping of those countries in which future markets would be developed. Thus New Zealand should assist the countries which could purchase her agricultural produce, for by that means the general volume of trade would be expanded, and a repetition of- the disaster which shook the economic world after the last great war would be avoided. Mr C. V. Smith, proposing a vote of thanks to the speaker, said that New Zealand had not received enough visitors of Sir Walter’s calibre. The propaganda dealing with Britain’s war effort had been excellent, but was not as satisfactory as a personal visit by a man qualified to speak authoritatively on the subject.