CURRENT AFFAIRS

Arawa Guerilla, Issue 20, 1 December 1943, Page 9

CURRENT AFFAIRS

INDUSTRY AFTER THE WAR. A VERY current topic. So much on this subject has appeared in th» Press since the A.E.W.S. Bulletin No. 21 appeared that we could have used all our space to record it. An important conference of manufacturers met last month in Napier to discuss the future of manufacturing. It was addressed by several Ministers of the Crown.

No full report of the proceedings or its conclusions is yet available, but a number . of. interesting points have already emerged, either from the conference or from expert comment on it. Mr. C. V. Smith,' President of the N.Z. Manufacturers’ Association, made these interesting points in his opening address: (a) N.Z. manufacturers in some cases have imported the most up-to-date machinery obtainable anywhere in the world, (b) “An astonishingly large number of well-known British firms are already manufacturing in N.Z. They have brought in capital, plant and methods. (c) N.Z. people buy a surprising amount of our own primary —£14,000,000 worth of butter, cheese, meat and wool in 1939. N.Z. IRON AND STEEL? The Brassert report of 1939 concluded that all the materials for running an iron and steel industry for 70 years were available, and that the establishment of the industry was fully warranted. (See C.A.B. Vol. 1, No. 21, p. 2). This report mentioned Onekaka as the best site. . There are, however, large deposits of iron sand on our west coast beaches, and Professor Leech, Professor of Engineering at Auckland, is of the opinion that these deposits could be exploited. Speaking in Auckland on October 22nd, he said it was not generally realised that' the estimated gross weight of workable iron in West Coast sands was greater than that of the ore in the whole of Australia. He referred also to the fact that a sample of 50 tons of this sand had been sent to England, where it had produced steel 50 per cent, stronger than that from British ores. How. could it be exploited? The first attempts had been made with blast furnaces, but Professor Leech said Russia had already shown that method to be wrong. He believed it should be done with electric power. This had been used with the sample sent to Britain. It had not been an economic proposition, since it had taken £ll of power to produce a ton of steel for

which the market price was only ilO. The Professor nevertheless believed that N.Z., with her hydro-electric resources, could produce steel economically. He calculated that it could be turned out here at £ls a ton, which would still be less than the cost of importing it. WHAT FUTURE INDUSTRIES? Our guess is as likely to be wrong as yours. What we find .ourselves doing in N.Z. will depend very much on what other countries do. But the

C.A.B. mentioned as likely future developments, first the expansion of existing industries, notably woollenmills- and boot and clothing factories, tobacco (N.Z. could produce all she needs), canning and dehydration, pot-

tery and' glass-making, and further afforestation; and second, the introduction of new industries, iron and steel, light metals, beet sugar and plastics. Professor Leech, in addition to pointing out the possibilities of iron and steel, claimed that, even without this, mass production of many articles iii N.Z. could be brought to a pitch at which it would compare favourably with production in other countries. He drew attention especially to the value of the Dominion Physics Laboratory in Wellington, in scientifically checking production methods and making maximum efficiency possible. Among articles he thought we could make for ourselves he mentioned radios, wash-ing-machines and household utensils. We leave you to chew over this topic with a reiterated warning. Our industrial development here will be largely conditioned by what happens in other countries. We have been able to import manufactures because we export foodstuffs. A few years from now, when war shortages in Europe have been made up, it may not be possible to export so much. Britain

and Europe are likely for many reasons to grow more of their own food than they used to. The Far East is probably less of a possibility for us than has been assumed. It is nowreported that even a remote hinterland

province like Sinkiang in China-is developing modern large-scale farming, as well as modern industry. (See background bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 11, pp. 9-11). This means' that ultimately neither we nor Britain can sell as much overseas as we used to. Then we won't be able to buy as much. Then we’ll have to make more of our own. Even if this picture is right, however, the immediate post-war period will see a desperate demand for well nigh everything except war materials. It will be most difficult to disentangle the permanent trends from the temporary, .and Major Skinner, Minister of Rehabilitation, was probably being realistic when he said the Government had no clear-cut plans to rehabilitate industry. He thought every encouragement should be given to industries using N.Z, raw materials. RUSSIAN FRONT. We suggested in last “Guerilla” that you mark in on a map of Russia the line of the farthest German advance, and the present front. The accompanying map is our attempt, and shows the position as at 12th, November. It shows also on the left the former Russo-German boundary, from which the German armies began their assaults two and a-half years ago.

Now do something similar with Italy. See what you can do with the present line across Italy. Then watch its progress northwards. If the Germans are still in Italy when we publish next “Guerilla” (and on present rate of progress they still will be). we’ll give you our version then. These theatres of war are of course more important than the Pacific, but we have a special interest in the latter. The long Jap perimenter has already been staved in, in the south-east. Very slightly, we admit, in comparison with the total area overrun by the Jap. But the process has begun. The very first A.E.W.S. Bulletin, the one on War in the Pacific, shows on the centrepage map the approximate Jap perimeter. It has been shifted northwards in the Solomons and in New Guinea, and westwards in the Behring Sea, where U.S. forces have retaken the Aleutian bases. ' HOUSES. We’ll be very much interested to hear more of what the troops thought of the suggested house of- the future, in Bulletin No. 20. Reports so far seem to show its redeption varied. Some men thought it was a fowlhouse or a cow-shed. These would be the people who do like trimmings on a house. z Many others who regarded the house with suspicion at first, decided after studying the ground plan that it had many advantages. A few went so far as to announce that that

is the sort of house they’ll build after the war.

CHINESE UNITY. We mentioned in last month’s “Guerilla” the threatened resumption of civil 'war between .Kuomintang and Communists. Fortunately this has been avoided. Two Communist leaders have been appointed to the committee of sixty which will organise a constitutional Government. “There will be no civil war,” said Liang Han-chao, Chiang’s Minister of Information. China celebrated last month the 32nd anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Republic. Chiang Kai-shek was installed as President. Occasion was taken to review China’s six-year struggle, with the following conclusions : Nine Provinces with a population of just under 100 million, are still quite free. In the conquered Provinces there are nearly 200 million over whom the Japs have very little control. And China’s remaining 150 million or so are still firmly under the heel of a very brutal invader. Ho Ying Chin, Chiang’s War Minister, thinks that at this time next year we may all be celebrating our final victory. ' .

NEWSPAPERS AND THE NEWS. You remember Bulletin No. 6? Well, this topic is in the news again. Mr. Eric Kennedy, acting-president of the Australian Newspaper Proprietors’ Association, has been heading a Press delegation from Australia to Britain and the U.S.A. Members of the delegation, explained Mr. Kennedy, had been so accurately informed of overseas conditions by their , own press cable service that they found few surprises in their overseas journey. The Press is very gratified to be able to give this accurate report of an accurate account of the accuracy of the Press.

The idea of newspapermen exchanging visits se/ms to be growing. In addition to the Australian jaunt mentioned above, a Canadian delegation headed by Mr. Arthur Ford, is at present in Sydney, and will later visit N.Z. “Guerilla” heartily approves. The staff of “Guerilla” hope to exchange visits with colleagues on the “London Times,” ‘‘New York Times” • and “Chunking Guardian.”