BRITAIN AT WAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 169, 20 July 1942, Page 5

BRITAIN AT WAR

INDUSTRY'S DEMANDS

CONSERVING OF MATERIALS

(0.C.) WELLINGTON, this clay Japan's conquests in the East, shipping shortage anc l . the increasing demands of our war industries have all made the conservation of essential raw materials more than ever necessary. Drastic restrictions have recently been imposed; for example, on the use of lead in plumbing, building maintenance and repairs, and rubber for various purposes, while the "basic" petrol ration which for the past few months has existed in an attenuated form has now ceased altogether, states a cable received from London by the Associated Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand from the Federation of the Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire. Controls have been extended over additional materials, including, for instance, refractory dolomite, chromium metal, coir fibre and yarn. Cuts have been made in rations of feeding stuffs for poultry; sweets of all kinds will be rationed soon, and ice cream will cease to be made at all. These are examples of the general tightening up which is evident in many directions. Collection of Scrap Parallel steps are being taken to secure the maximum collection of scrap, and a recent order makes it obligatory on the occupier of premiscs to complete a return of available metal. The definition of "potential scrap" is comprehensive. It includes any metal forming part of a building structure, machinery, plant, or article which is disused, obsolete! or redundant, or otherwise serving no useful purpose. The second interim report of the retail trade committee, issued early this year, foresaw a grim prospect for shopkeeping. The third report, just published, submits a scheme designed to promote the concentration of retail shopkeepers by encouraging the temporary withdrawal of traders, many of whom, especially the smaller units, are likely to be ruined if they try to hold on. The proposals outline a compulsory mutual insurance scheme so that on the voluntarv closing of premises a trader would be entitled to a standard benefit whicn would enable him to discharge his contractual obligations. There would also be a guarantee of prior rights to re-enter trade after the war. As may be imagined, the whole matter has aroused a keen controversy, but it is at least clear that some measure must be brought into force to provide an alternative to the haphazard elimination of the weaker units as their resources are exhausted. The volume of goods is progressively declining. Stocks are no longer available to act as a buffer, and there cannot be enough business to justify the continuance in wartime of all the existing shopkeepers. Shipbuilding News Means of _ further accelerating shipbuilding in this country are being discussed in many quarters in view of the urgent need for tonnage,. and the Journal of Commerce I raises the question whether the time has not come to denude other industries of material and labour in order to secure a rapid expansion of the output of our yards. The question of priority is obviously difficult, but it must be considered whether even those engaged in other engineering work directly contributing to the war effort might not be better employed in building ships, in so far as their labour would secure an in- . crec.se in tonnage in the near future. It was stated at an Amalgamated Engineering Union conference that there might have to be a transfer of workers from production to shipbuilding and repairing. Nearly 30,000 British workpeople are now on war production in three hundred factories set up in Britain by refugees from Nazi persecution. They are helping to defeat their former oppressors by making glycerine for explosives, textiles, leather service equipment, optical glass for binoculars and periscopes, diamond cutting tools, electrical equipment, metal alloys, and many other manufactures directly used in the war effort. Over a hundred industries new to Britain have been established here by refugees since Hitler came into power, and valuable processes, recorded only in the minds of the . inventors, are Germany's loss and the Allies' gain. Many of the refugees came over with little but their ideas and designs, all their equipment and most of their capital having been abandoned. The British Government has noi only given the exiles asylum, but has assisted them with capital, equipment and premises. Nearly one-third of the new ■ ventures are on Government trading estates.