Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1944. ACTION THAT IS OVERDUE.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 January 1944, Page 2

Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1944. ACTION THAT IS OVERDUE.

THERE lias been of late a considerable amount of talk about the manpower problem as it has developed in this country, but volubility on the subject is not obviously accompanied by any great readiness to act in the way that may be most necessary. The main heads of the problem—one with which it devolves primarily though not solely upon the Government and Parliament to deal —are military commitments and industrial demands. These last come into the picture principally in the extent to which the production of food and of other military necessities is definitely a part, and a very important part, of the national war effort.

In any attempt to arrive at a clarification of the total position some more or less complex and difficult questions of detail would have to be dealt with. For instance, an enlargement of the labour force applied to food production would raise questions of working costs and prices oh -which at present no satisfactory understanding and agreement has been reached.

An initial question to be determined, however, is whether the present military commitments of the .Dominion are compatible with the enlarged output of foodstuffs and other products which is declared also to be a national duty. It has to be determined, that, is to say, whether New Zealand can maintain and reinforce a division in Europe, another in the Pacific, the Air Force, our Naval Division and other units, and at the same time maintain or enlarge its production from the land and in other ways of commodities needed as a contribution to the war supplies of the United Nations.

On this broad question a clear lead that has not yet been given is needed from the Government, The present attitude of the Government seems to be one of implying, rather than asserting, that in some fashion not explained the country’s total commitments as they stand can be met. There are fairly obvious grounds for holding that this implication, or suggestion, cannot be sustained, and that it is a matter of modifying in some degree either our military or our industrial commitments.

That the problems involved admit of no easy solution does » not make it any the less necessary that they should be dealt ■with decisively. The first thing to be determined is whether our military commitments are or are not to be in any degree modified. This is a question the Government might very reasonably submit to. Parliament at the earliest possible moment, In fact the prompt reference of this question to Parliament seems to stand out as an imperative duty.

Should it be decided that our military commitments must stand unaltered, then a good deal ot what is being said about an expansion of production from hind and other industries must be dismissed as meaningless. It is or should be understood clearly always that there is< no question of New Zealand reducing its war effort. What has to be determined is how that effort can be made to tell with the greatest weight and effect, from a national standpoint and in the cause of the United Nations. 1