War Production

Waikato Times, Volume 130, Issue 21653, 13 February 1942, Page 3

War Production

BEAVERBROOK’S TASK ALL SOURCES OF OUTPUT POOLING AMONG ALLIES “REVOLUTIONARY MOVE” (Official wireless) (Received Feb. 13, 12.30 p.m.) RUGBY, Feb. 12 Lord Beaverbrook, speaking in the House of Lords for the first time in his capacity of Minister of War Production, said that such a Minister was an infant born to a joint account. “When Mr Averil Harriman and I went to Moscow i£ involved close relation in the allotment and disposal cf war munitions and the arrangements involved joint action and a joint account,” Lord Beaverbrook said. “The infant grew up in Washington when the resources of Britain and the United States were pooled. The pooling of these resources was a particularly revolutionary move. “I do not think the country realised the nature or extent of that arrangement made by the Prime Minister of not only pooling all weapons produced in the United States and Britain* as well as other Allied Countries, but also setting up a joint board to dispose of those weapons. We had to pool the whole of our raw materials, the disposal of which depends on the joint board at Washington. The same applied to all ships of the United States and Britain. All these arrangements must be taken into account. Must Go Abroad “Now the Minister of Production is charged with the duty of disposing of all questions relating to these new boards at Washington. It has been said that the Minister of Production, it was hoped, would not find it necessary to go abroad. That hope is strong in my bosom, but I am afraid it will not be realised. It will be necessary to go to Washington and to Moscow. Only by doing that can our own needs be met. “This will involve the Minister in a very great deal of hard work. I am quite prepared to face it. I did not want this job, or the aircraft production job, or the supply job either, but I am looking forward to working at this task as vigorously as possible. lam anxious to do it well. lam willing to mix diplomacy with decisions, but only providing I get decisions. Speed is essential in war, and I hope to get quick decisions. Stimulating: Output “I have my duties clearly defined indeed,” continued Lord Beaverbrook. “Apart from these committees I have described, and on which I shall be chairman of the British representatives, it is my duty to stimulate production, not here but everywhere. I must persuade producers in the United States and all the united countries to bring up programmes consistent with the Allies’ needs in the battlefield all over the world. That is my first duty. “The principal production which will have to be dealt with is not from the factories of Britain—not at all. The main duty of the Minister is to tap every source of supply everywhere, and beyond all else the principal source of supply will be beyond doubt the United States. In the nature of things it must be. Canada is of ; considerable importance too, and its ‘ production must be rapidly growing, j “When all sources of supply have j been tapped there comes the ques- J tion of allotment, and it is allotment ( to the Allied nations for the purpose ; of prosecuting the war that requires ’ consultation in Washington and xvloscow. In all probability Britain will ; give for a time more in the way of I production than Britain will receive. : but in the not far distant future Britain will get, I think, a great deal more in the allocation of war material : than she will give, provided always she needs the allocation. j Minister’s First Duty “The British Minister of Produc- . tion will one day become the agent and instrument for augmenting sup- I plies in Britain from the proceeds of j factories abroad. That is probably j the ultimate posit fn, but I venture, to repeat that the first duty of the i Minister of Production is to make use I of all sources of supply. “His second task is to insist upon l

the development of resources in Britain to the utmost and get as much as possible out of the factories here at home, but when it comes to operating factories, the responsibility and duty of production rests upon the Ministers in charge of the supply departments. They must take the responsibility for output. “The output at home must be increased by the labours of those responsible for the task to Parliament —that is the Ministers of the departments. I have no such responsibility. It is true I must promote and stimulate production, but the other Ministers must be held responsible in future for the management and direction of production. They must have a measure of praise which should come from the public to those who give up rising charts of production. I must not take that job out of their hands. Elimination of Waste “The Minister of Production will give warning of waste in the factories, he must deal with idleness and , the elimination of overlapping and i the correction of errors in co-ordina-tion of those who work for different Ministers. It will be said that that is not the sort of Minister of Production the country requires. That is a matter of opinion. “Production in Britan is at present on a very big basis. I must refute tl| tales of failure that are heard, but I am told that there is much idle time, that many factories fail to use their resources to the full and that there is too much waste. I do not deny there is plenty of opportunity for improvement. I am well aware of it. I am sure that waste and extravagance exist in many places, but to judge by the results of output of the factories-the situation is not bad but good. “In the last six or seven months the production of finished munitions has actually doubled. Do not take it that every item has doubled. Some items have certainly fallen short of a 100 per cent increase. Some have reached as much as a 500 per cent increase.”