WORTH WHILE EFFORT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 268, 13 November 1945, Page 5

WORTH WHILE EFFORT

N-Z. IN THE WAR I REVIEW BY MR. FRASER 1 ] COUNTRY MORE PROSPEROUS THAN EVER (P-A.) Wellington, Nov. 12. ‘ it. is doubtful whether any country has made a greater contribution to the war effort than did New Zealand in rclat on to its size and population,” said the Primo Minister, Mr. Fraser, addressing the annual conference of lhe •New Zealand Labour Part). Altogether, of her 205,000 men and women who joined the Armed Forces during lhe war. 135,000 served overseas. Air. Fraser paid tribute to the achievemc. ts of the New Zealand forces in many theatres of war, and made special mention of the service given by Maori units. INCREASED PRODUCTION. "In audition to her purely military* 1 contributio. , ’ he said, “New Zealand succeeded in increas.ng primary production so that Britain, and later the United States forces, could be supplied with the greatest possible quantities ol foodstuffs. New Zealand shipped to Britain 1,800,000 tons of meat, 6-85,000 tons of b7Uer, and 623,000 tons ui cheese, and 3,400,000 bales of wool were appraised for shipment to Britain. In addition New Zealand supplied £39,500,000 worth of foodstuffs to the United States. At the same time our factories manufactured large quantities of clothing, munitions and equipment, and suppl.ed the civilian market with essential commodities which we were no longer able to obtajn from overseas. The value of our factory production rose from £114,447,000 in 1938-39 to £174,500,000. in 1943-44. These results could be obtained only by a thorough and farreaching organisation of New Zealand's economy. Farm and factory, production could only have been increased if our military commitment* were to be fulfiled by the utifisation. of all available manpower. “The results of the Manpower Regulations, introduced in 1942, have certainly justified their introduction. The Government's wartime policy has also met with striking success in other directions. The stabilisation policy has been effectively appliied, and the extent to which the community has benefited cannot be exaggerated. “The country has emerged front the war as prosperous as never before, J and its financial structure is sound. * The policy of paying for the war out ! of taxatio jas far as possible, an 4 ( confining borrowing to the I ;ternal I market has met with marked success, j "During the last six financial years . the total revenue raised by the Gov- ! ernment. excludi. g lend lease and i mutual aid, was £780,000,000. Taxation supplied £471,000,000 or 60 pe? i cent, of lhe total. Loans amounted. I to £260.000,000 and other revenue pro- i vided £49,000,000. Of the net bor- ’

rowing only £3,000,000 qame from overseas, for, though the debt of £19,000,000 was incurred to the United Kingdom Government, under a memorandum of security agreement, it was almost entirely offset by the repayment of £16,000,000 of prewar debt. Mr. Fraser thanked all New Zealanders who had contributed to the success of the country's war effort. Practically every nerson in New Zealand, he said, had helped in whatever way was open to him, or to her. “Since the end of the war with Japan 38,000 men and women have been released from the forces,” said Mr. Fraser. Ho gave ay assurance that the release of the remainder of those coming out of the forces would be carried out as rapidly as ciufrumstances would allow. RETURN OF THOSE OXERSEAS. "No effort is being spared to secure the return ol men from overseas as soon as possible,” Mr. Fraser said. "The ch ci obstacle is difficulty in obtain.ng shipping, in spite of this difficulty, however, some 23,W0 men have been brought back from overseas since Japan surrendered, in August. Good progress has been made lq the work of assisting our ex-servicemen in tiic r return to civil fife. The Government early realised the importance of this task, and as a result of measures taken early in the war the Rehabilitation Department is well equipped to lead w.th large numbers ol servicemen being released from the forces. Every effori is made to eliminate delays, and administrative decentralisation has enabled applications for assistance to be dealt with very much more rapidly. So far more than £16,000,000 has been spent on the rehabilitation of our ex-servicemen. Trade training schemes have given c.x-.-ervicemc.’ an opportunity of learning skilled trades, and have already provided hundreds of tradesmen sb urgently needed for house construction. The work of assisting ex-sorviccme.' 1o find suitable employment has been assumed by the newly-formed Employment Department.” ____________ — —9