In placid little (pop. 6,949) Midland, Ont. on the shores of Lake Huron, 24 newly arrived German workmen last week began uncrating $100,000 worth of optical machinery in a rented curling rink. The workers, from Leitz's famed optical works at Wetzlar, began setting up lens-grinders, buffers, drills, in preparation for moving into a new $200,000 factory near by. There they will assemble Leica cameras, photo accessories, special lenses, and aim for a share of rearmament's precision optical orders.
The plant is Leitz's first in North America since Pearl Harbor, when its U.S. distributing subsidiary was confiscated (the Alien Property Custodian will sell...