FORTUNES OF WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 December 1939, Page 9

FORTUNES OF WAR

NEW RICH AND NEW POOR. The fortunes of war arc creating new rich and new poor. The three main factors determining the financial position of citizens are fore-thought, opportunism, and accident. The first category includes armament and munition manufacturers and army clothing contractors. The second category includes a bookseller, who advertises. “Read while they raid," and an optician who advertises, “Black-outs demand keen eyesight. When were your eyes last tested?” Those in. the third category are determined to some extent by the evacuation from the cities, which has rendered some metropolitan shopkeepers penniless because all their customers have gone. But, on the other hand, the evacuation has increased the turnover of country tradesmen. Doctors generally, apart from leading specialists, are not suffering greatly. Most doctors are finding Army posts. Lawyers will soon be out of business. The Law Courts will be almost idle except for a "bumper crop” of divorces. Registry offices are conducting a multitude of hasty marriages. Architects arc completely unemployed. Shipbuilders, metal manufacturers, and farmers are flourishing, and are being assisted by Government subsidies. Retired sea captains have been recalled to replace Naval Reserve officers in merchantmen. Engineers in all branches are finding the value of their services nearly doubled.

! Coalminers are in full employment under Government instructions to provide an increased output. There is little likelihood of industrial trouble in coalmining districts. Retired policemen are returning to the beat and are receiving pay. in addition to their pensions. Furniture, both new and secondhand, has increased to three times its pre-war value. Duplicator manufacturers have trebled their business because most members of office staffs have been called up and because of the expansion in Government clerical work. The printing trade has suffered a setback. Booksellers and lending libraries report a boom. Makers of puzzles and indoor games are also doing good business. Philately and embroidery work are increasing in popularity. Stamp dealers advertise that stamps are a safe investment, being comparable to gold and diamonds. The motor trade has been badly hit. but firms converting cars for use of gas fuel will benefit. The latest id /a is a light trailer, costing £lO5, which carries an anthracite gas fuel generator. This fuel is 70 per cent cheaper than petrol. The use of it involves an adjustment of the carburettor and the fitting of a special intake into the cylinders.

Bicycle manufacturers and owners of draught horses are benefiting where motor' firms are losing, but some bloodstock breeders cannot afford to handfeed. and. as a result, many blood foals have already been destroyed. Others who are benefiting are Air Raid Precaution workers, who are av> eraging 60s a week. Stoke-on-Trent, with a population of 275,000. has a weekly wage-bill of £2520 for A.R.P. workers.