RtCONSTRU OTIOtI NEEDS.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 December 1918, Page 4

RtCONSTRU OTIOtI NEEDS.

DEVASTATED WAR- AREAS. INDUSTRIALISM IN BRITAIN. . The reconstruction problems confronting ,• France, Belgium and Britaiii.aite dealt with in an interesting .uianner in a letter received from. one of the members of the press delegation that visited Britain ami the western front at the invitation of the Imperial Ministry of Information.' - V ■ • . Looking back at the tour through. the intervening ..events, says, the Writer, oue of the most outstanding memories is- ‘ the - desolation of Northern Frimee and Belgium. The delegates; were iii the ruined •cities.-of- Albert; Bapaume, Arras and Ypres. All of these are masses of broken masonry.-. The "streets have been cleared, and by following: -a guide one can see the remains of the great buildings of which France laud Belgium were justly proud—the. historic Cloth Hall of Ypres, the, ouce; beautitulji-. llot el de Ville .pt Arras,' the Stately ..churches of .all |foiir cities. Surrounding ' these/are. depressing masses of wreckage,* the; "beginnings; it may be, of new, cities, but beginnings /that are‘ largely sentimental, for the practical^ 6 " 43irilding;pf;A.pr^.s, Ypres,. Alberthiid Bapaume must -be ■ u'ndejitaken' almost from the' foundations. And .these are but -samples.:/' The delegates • were able to see only the fringe' - of the ruin which tlie. Ger-man-made ’ war lias-u brought to Fran ce an d Belgium They passed .through hdatij' of the-smaller towns, 'such ,as Fere-en-Tardenois and ; ' Hazel brouck, which are scenes ol absolute desolation.. They motored Some 1,500 miles'over/the devastated area of Northern . France, through

towns and villages, " which have crumbled to pieces. Even the coastal towns of Boulogne aud Calais: haye been damaged by bombs to a surprising.extent, Villages whose names have-become familiar the \vorld over,: such as .Souches and Pozferes, are identifiable only on the map.. Literally ..not one. stone remains stay.din g/upon another. Even human Vitality appears to have gone froni tffie’areah ;iu whieffi the- Germau . .army set its leet, ~French civil.ian.regide.uts. there Were, when the delegates passed 'through, ■ but they were few in l number, aud almost ' ' without exception they looked:dejected and hopeless, going about their daily tasks without Hie : slightest sense of the. blessed .relief which: even then '(was -so near to them. In this respect Belgiuurand Northern France have no doubt already changed, but years must . pass before the damage to laud and - buildings; can be', repaired, and millions'mhSt be spent in the work of reconstruction before land, and industry can give food aud shelter, to the pre-war .. population. The ruin is indescribable, the loss in- • calculable...’The. war-stri.ckgn portions of France And Belgium can, (never' again be.fts they were. To (make them even self-supporting an 'enormous:, 'wealth of labour -. and material must be poured into them, aud the appalling cost of it. all must form part of the count,and reckoning to be made with Germany at the final peace settlement; . -■ Britain lias afeconstructive prob ■ lem, of a different kiudp.but it also is vast. Tlie delegates : are/ able to ; realise its 'magnitude through their-, visits to the'-munition factories.' Industrially and socially Britain . must face, is indeed now-facing, a -process of change such as uoTlatjoii |has.gve.r.experienced; Tlie’difficultyof returning soldiers to civil life is complicated bj r the necessity of finding new occupations for-.the euorm;ous army of workers employed in • the manufacture ot munitions. A ;Government department, under Dr .Addison, Minister for Reconstruction, has been preparing for the critical period at tlie beginning of .peace. During an interview Dr Addison told the delegates that ;happily about half the .women in munition factories have." their own plans, and need no.place in the ins -dustrial organisation of the iuture. : In the army there is. even a larger proportion who will be able to return to tlidir previous employments with-, out Government aid. The'detnobilisation scheme has, been plauned so that those so placed can be Grst re-, leased from service. The army unit is to be wholly disregarded, and soldiers are to leave the colours in the following order First, men who have employment waiting them ; second,: .men who are skilled in trades where work is abundant; and, last, the residue, which it .is hoped will be only a small proportion of the whole. Iu tlie factories the difficulties of transition from a war to a, peace footing are enormous. One .has to" visit these great works to get an idea of the extent to which British trade has been sacrificed so that the supply of munitions may be kept up. Not only have firms adapted their plants to tlie needs of the war office ; they have sacrificed their trade connections and must begin to build afresh. One huge establishment through which the delegates passed had been utilised for the manufacture of electrical- machinery. It was turning out tanks, rerifling big guns, aud providing all sorts o?

heavv supplies for the army and navy. Another was a carriage'fac tory, but now without a single carriage in sight, and none on order. A third was the biggest of Britain’s linen mills, in which nothing was being made but aeroplane cloth; These conditions are multiplied in all the industrial centres of Britain, The delegates had many conversations with the men in charge of these concerns. In every case the future was regarded as doubtful, but was being anticipated with the same courage which enabled the captains of British industry to sacrifice everything so that the army, in the field might want for nothing.