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War Economy

United States Supplies

United States Supplies

From the time of the arrival of the United States Forces in New Zealand in June 1942, there was considerable movement of United States vessels in and out of New Zealand ports, and, especially in Auckland, a large civilian staff was required for waterside work on these vessels. From June 1942 until March 1945, approximately half of all the wages paid at the port of Auckland were for work carried out on behalf of the United States authorities. There was soon a severe shortage of labour for waterfront work in Auckland, and extra workers had to be brought in. To supplement the still inadequate work force, men who had other jobs during ordinary working hours were taken on for shift work and for weekend work.

Optimum allocation of labour to jobs on the waterfront and elsewhere was made difficult by the comparatively high rates of pay offered by the United States authorities.2

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2 Discussed more fully in Chapter 17.