A Manpower Crisis

Taranaki Daily News, 22 March 1943, Page 2

A Manpower Crisis

From the nature and indeterminate conclusion of the manpower debate in Parliament two plain and striking facts emerge which no degree of political chicanery can hide or dispel. The first is that the major manpower commitments were made before Parliament assembled and the debate was merely a belated opportunity for the airing of opinions. The second is that a manpower crisis is not merely developing. It is, as Mr. Lee remarked, already here. For this the War Cabinet in the first instance must take full responsibility. Parliament, in the second instance, may with some justification pass the buck to Cabinet, but it cannot eseape blame. Without a protest it acquiesced in the flouting of its prerogative, and in so doing failed to discharge its responsibility to the electors. o * *

War Cabinet has obviously based its commitments on the assumption that the war would end this year, and all the talk about the necessity to maintain reinforcements of the Middle East division plus the conversion of the overseas Pacific forces to a combat division also requiring reinforcements is pathetic when a long term view is taken. It can't be done. By next year the resources for such reinforcements will be quite unable to supply the demand if normal losses in the two combat divisions are sustained. That is, it can't be done if New Zealand is also to maintain a steady stream of recruits for the navy, a substantially increased contribution to the air force, and at the same time supply the food and other munitions of war which she has undertaken to provide. * # # Mr. Coates and various other Mrnisters attempted to make the point that a combat division in the Pacific is necessary if New Zealand is to maintain her prestige and ultimately carry any weight at the peace discussions. This is sheer nonsense. We are engaged in a global war, and New Zealand is serving the cause of the Allied nations just ds effectively by keeping a fighting force in North Africa as the United States is in fighting on Guadalcanal. The sole yardstick by which New Zeaiand's war effort should be measureu is what is in the best interests of the Allied Nations' cause, whether it be in men, food or munitions. The answer is a proper relative balance between these three factors — not an ill-considered avalanche of the three that will bankrupt the nation prematurely and might neeessitate a sudden and perhaps disastrous revision of her undertakings. * * * Everyone should now agree that the peril is great, the prospect grim and the utmost effort is needed to defeat the enemy. But it is time that patriotic fervour was replaced by cornmonsense in the determination of commitments. Food and other supplies are just as essential in war as fighting men. New Zealand and Australia are the logical sources of supply of stores for the Pacific area. The United States authorities have emphasised this point, and have asked New Zealand for food production which in the present manpower muddle she has little hope of achieving. Of a dozen staple commodities cheese is almost the only one in which there is likely to be a surplus, and with certain items serious shortages are almost inevitable. Last year on urgent request New Zealand grew -22,000 acres of some of the finest linen flax in the world. Now the growers are asked to reduce to 11,000 acres because the mills, working only one shift, cannot cope with the output. The Government proposes to increase its 2000 acres of vegetables last year to 5000 this year, but it has so robbed the labour from the commercial growers that the production from the latters' 8000 acres has been reduced by at least a third. Everywhere the same result is occurring from shortage of labour. We cannot have it both ways. Either we must reduce our armed forces' commitments or we cannot sustain production at the required level. • # * • Examine for a moment the argument that New Zealand, to preserve her self-respect, must honour the overseas armed forces undertakings upon which War Cabinet has now embarked. This country has already mobilised for war in the army, navy and air force over 163,000 men, which is 10.5 per cent. of her total population. In addition she has called up 8000 women. Experts have ealculated that 10 per cent. of the population is the highest a nation can mobilise without a deterioration of the home front that eventually r^acts on the army in the field. Britain has mobilised 10 per cent. The United States is budgeting on an 8 per cent. final mobilisation to allow a margin of safety. Even Germany, highly organised and geared as she is for war, has stopped short at 12 per cent. Yet New Zealand with a 10.5 per cent. call up has, on Mr. Coates' statement in the House, no provision for meeting a change in the war situation that would threaten the country's security. Can anyone say that New Zealand, even without maintaining a combat division in the Pacific, is not taking an adequate and honourable share in the actual fighting of this world war? * • • # From all points of view it is plain that New Zealand can make her best contribution to the war effort by a plan that demands the utmost sacrifice from everyone but one that can be reasonably sustained. This can most effectively be achieved by reducing her military commitments to a practical level and building up

production. A return of the division from the Middle East is neither practicable nor desirable. The alternative is a reduction of th.e combat Pacific division to two brigades, or even a brigade, which could be satisfactorily reinforced. Our production requirements are likely to increase rather than diminish, particularly if, as Mr. Churchill observed, the war in Europe ends before the war in the Pacific. This surely warrants greater emphasis on production. Our production potentiality, even with the manpower resources already available, is not organised to anything approaching its capacity. Hours of work and other conditions in some walks of life make the sacrifices made infinitesimal in comparison with those of the fighting forces overseas. But that is another story.