LEASE LEND AID

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 21, 27 January 1943, Page 5

LEASE LEND AID

ASSISTANCE FROM N.Z. ALL FOOD NEEDS IN PACIFIC Rugby, Jan. 25. “New Zealand, a country with a population of less than 2,000,000, has provided almost 1,500,000 dozen oggs, over 2,000,000 pounds of butter, 3,000,000 pounds of sugar, and 16,000,000 pounds of beef, mutton and pork,” said Mr. Stettinius, the Lend-Lease administrator, in a comprehensive review of reciprocal Lend-Lease aid to the United States by Britain, the Dominions, the colonies and the Allied nations. He disclosed that supplies received by the United States Forces in the South and South-west Pacific areas from Australia and New Zealand already included over 200,000,000 pounds of food. In consequence of this the United States was sending practically no food to their forces in these areas, but were using the shipping space for tanks and guns instead. For such aid there was no possible yardstick, either quantitative or financial, just as we could not measure by feet or dollars the value of the lives sacrificed to defeat the Axis. Yet this pooling of brains and resources might well prove of equal importance to the pooling of weapons in shortening the war. Mr. Stettinius said that supplies of food already furnished to the United States had resulted in serious civilian shortages in both Australia and New Zealand, of meat, dairy and egg products, vegetables and canned goods. In addition, both New Zealand and Australia had undertaken a largescape expansion of farm production to grow more foods for U.S. troops. They were also expanding the food processing industry to provide more canned and dehydrated food rations for the United States force in the Solomons, New Guinea, New Caledonia and New Hebrides.

Both countries again had devoted a large part of their construction industry to building airfields, barracks, deports, repair plants, roads and many other facilities for American forces.

New Zealand was also furnishing blankets and clothing to American troops and had a programme in progress to the manufacture of 500,000 pairs of army shoes. In addition to building naval and air base facilities, barracks and depots New Zealand had huilt two large new hospitals for American troops and had diverted so many medical supplies to the use of U.S. troops in the Solomons that for the time such common items as gauze bandages and surgical cotton were virtually unobtainable for civilian use —8.0.W.