War salvage in Europe

[Mike Cecil]

" The Canadian mutual aid programme began in 1950 ..." - well, no it didn't, at least the first Canadian Mutual Aid programme didn't: it was a wartime measure for supplying allied countries with equipment and raw materials.

The Canadian Mutual Aid Act became law on 20 May 1943. The Act charged that the Canadian Mutual Aid Board ' contribute, exchange, deliver, transfer to or possession of or otherwise make available, war supplies to any of the [allies] other than Canada.' The purpose was to enable those of the [allies] who are short of Canadian dollars to continue to draw supplies from Canada to meet their essential wartime needs.'

Australia was the happy recipient of a considerable quantity of materiel under the CMA programme, importing goods and materials from Canada to the value of $87M during 1942 (including $9M in freight costs) and an estimated $90M in the period April 1943 to March 1944. (The 1942 payments made before the Act came into force were credited to the CMA account.)

Mike