LOOKING AHEAD

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 June 1941, Page 5

LOOKING AHEAD

BRITAIN’S POST-WAR PLANS MR GREENWOOD'S OUTLINE. USE OF VASTLY EXTENDED PRODUCTIVE POWER. / (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, June 22. Mr Arthur Greenwood. Minister without portfolio, in a speech al Wakefield, said : “It is my pariicular task to study ways and means of meeting' the claims of peoples upon their holders for the establishment in the world of conditions of freedom and security and more civilised ways of life, "When one is making plans, bringing people together to formulate agreed proposals and setting forth complicated problems requiring interdepartmental co-operation and consultation over a wide field, it is not' easy to explain at any given moment how things are taking shape. They certainly are taking shape. "There is first and foremost the problem of enabling men in the fighting services to return at the earliest possible time when the war ends to the freedom of civilian life. It is not a simple problem. It has many aspects and vast ramifications. But we are getting on with the framing of plans to ensure that demobilisation when it comes will not spell unemployment, demoralisation, or want. “A smooth and orderly release of fighting men from the restraints of military service can be effected. It means planning ahead. It involves the consideration of related problems. Among these I place in the forefront of my studies of the immediate postwar situation and question of peacetime uses that can be made of vastly extended productive equipment called into being by the war needs. “It is now generally recognised that labour, as a vital element in our economic system, must be accorded conditions which recognise its human needs and the part it plays in the national life. We are studying in the most practical spirit the war time developments of industrial production and the regulation of labour with a view to applying the lessons learnt to peacetime.”