H.—lla

39. The basic trend during the second phase —i.e., December, 1941, to November, 1942, often called the year of Japanese threat —was in the direction of all-out domestic, military, and industrial mobilization to defend New Zealand itself. The main measures which marked this phase were— (а) Mobilization on a full-time basis of a considerable part of the Territorial Force and the National Military Reserve, and the removal of distinction between Territorial and other service. (The peak mobilization of persons was achieved in September, 1942, and, excluding casualties, totalled 154,000 males and 3,000 females, or 170,000 if the 13,000 casualties then recorded are added. Of these, 127,000 were in the Army, 24,000 in the Air Force, and 6,000 in the Navy.) (б) The wholesale mobilization of members of the First and Second Division of the General Reserve —i.e., single and married men of military age. (Army male personnel in New Zealand at December, 1942, aged over eighteen years totalled 35,000 Grade I and 18,000 Grade II.) (c) The introduction of compulsory civil defence service and the expansion of component services to the strength of 150,000 by the end of 1942. (There were also some 115,000 enrolled in the Home Guard at this time.) (d) The recruitment of women to the auxiliary wings of the three Service arms —viz., Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, Women's Auxiliary Air Force, and Women's Royal Navy Service. (At the end of 1942 the strength of the three women's Services were as follows : W.A.A.G., 3,000 ; W.A.A.F., 3,000 ; W.R.N.S., 200.) (e) The compulsory industrial mobilization of civilians under the industrial-mobilization procedure empowered by regulation in January, 1942. (By the end of 1942, 17,000 directions into essential work had been given to males and. 3,000 to females.) (f) The development of the Women's War Service Auxiliary to the point (November, 1942) when enrolments totalled 75,000. 40. Tims by September of 1942 the military mobilization had been carried so far that 157,000 persons were serving in the Forces either in New Zealand or overseas, while a further 250,000 men and women were serving part-time in the Home Guard, Emergency Precautions Service, and other auxiliary services. 41. This huge deflection of man-power from industry by itself created serious man-power shortages in the basic industries. These were greatly accentuated by the enormous programme of defence construction, both for New Zealand and Allied troops, that was so spectacular an aspect of the industrial scene in 1942. 42. Despite the degree of preparedness achieved by September of that year, there was scant ground for optimism in the face of invasion, while demands for additional man-power as reinforcements for the Division'overseas and as recruits to the rapidly expanding Air Force were daily growing more clamant. Although much had been achieved by the policy initiatives launched in the year of Japanese threat, the overall man-power position remained most serious. 43. The third period —that between November, 1942, and March, 1944 —could be called the period of maximum overseas contribution, for during it this was the basic policy. This period was opened by the crucial reverses of Japan on Guadalcanal and of Germany and Italy at El Alamein. With the immediate Japanese threat now removed, the chief developments which served the main policy trend were—(a) The continued reinforcement of the Army Division in the Middle East, and the despatch to the Pacific of a Second Division of 11,000 officers and men in November, 1942, the strength ultimately increasing to 18,000 during 1943. (b) Survey of personnel followed by drastic contraction of home-defence units, the Home Guard, Emergency Precautions Service, and other auxiliary war organizations. (Early in 1944 the Home Guard was disbanded, while most of the functions of the civil defence were transferred to the Internal Affairs Department as from the beginning of April, 1944.) (c) The continued expansion of the Air Force and, to a lesser extent, the Navy. (By March, 1944, the strength of the Air Force had increased to 41,000, including 3,500 females, while that of the Navy had increased to 9,400, including 500 females.) (d) The direction to essential industry of the man-power released from the Forces. (Note.^—From home-defence units alone more than 18,000 men tvere made available to industry from March, 1943, to March, 1944, while the full-time members of the Home Guard and the National Military Reserve for the most part also returned to industry.) (e) Postponement of further service of youths under twenty-one who had been mobilized but who were anxious to lay the foundations of their career. (f) The intensified administration of the Industrial Man-power Regulations in the service of maximum industrial output of munitions, food and clothing, and of the continually expanding defence construction programme. 44. In results, the third phase yielded a substantial diversion of man-power from the domestic scene to overseas theatres of war, while it also greatly augmented New Zealand's industrial contribution to the allied war effort. The policy objective of maximum overseas contribution was thus splendidly realized, as the part played by the New Zealand Forces in various theatres of war shows.

7