DEFENCE WORK

Timaru Herald, Volume CLI, Issue 22203, 21 February 1942, Page 4

DEFENCE WORK

All Available Labour Required Construction Of New Camps •P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH. Feb. 20. “We need all the manpower available for the next few weeks to meet the requirements of the Defence Department for buildings and defence work generally,” said the Minister of Public Works to-day. Mr Armstrong said he was pleased to say that various local bodies during a visit he had just completed to Oamaru. Timaru. Ashburton and Dunedin, while making representations to have urgent work of thenown done had not pressed hard in the matter because they realised the position. “To-night I will be attending a meeting of the Builders’ Association," he added, “and will have a talk to them in regard to getting on with the job of constructing new camps as rapidly as possible. To do that we will have to utilise the labour of men now engaged on house building. Builders themselves, as far as is reasonably possible, will have the work allocated among them. Both skilled and unskilled labour will have to be diverted to defence for some weeks to come. The job is there to be done and we have to get ahead with it. “State housing work here will have to ease off temporarily or possibly come to a standstill. It is either co-operation or stupid competition for the labour available. There is not enough labour for all the work." The Southland County Council decided to-day to cease the operation of the Rural Housing Act in the county because of the war situation, and to inform the Minister of Housing that it considered that men should be withdrawn from housing and all other nonessential industries and diverted to essential defence and fighting services. In proposing the motion, the actingchairman (Mr L. A. Nlederer) said he was strongly of the opinion that house building and other non-essential work should be held over until a more suitable time. The men now employed in them could be transferred to war work. Mr T. Golden said he thought a majority of the people of New Zealand were of the opinion that steps should be taken to protect homes now in existence instead of building new ones. He considered that all capital expenditure should be held up until more favourable times. It was late in the day but not too late to divert artisans and tradesmen to defence works.