WAR PRODUCTION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 September 1941, Page 6

WAR PRODUCTION

CANADA’S GROWING INDUSTRY | BIG DEVELOPMENTS. SWIFT TRANSFORMATION MADE. OTTAWA. September 12. Canadian weapons of war now are moving to all the battlefields of the world, to Britain, to her Dominions, to the Middle East, to China, and to Russia. Canada can now fully equip an infantry division within six weeks. This swift transformation of the national economy has brought a marked development in Canadian industry. The Dominion Bureau of Statistics records these percentage increases for the first seven months of 1941 over the corresponding period of 1940:—Industrial production 13.2 per cent; manufacturing production 11.8 per cent, physical volume of business 13.2 per cent; mineral production for export, excluding gold, 36 per cent; imports, excluding gold, 32 per cent; construction contracts awarded. 59.9 per cent; railway car loadings, 14.5 per cent; national income, 10.7 per cent; employment general, 22.2 per cent; employment manufacturing, 25.6 per cent. Influences characteristic of the war period are making themselves felt in rising commodity prices. The cost of living index advanced from 111.9 on July 2 to 113.7 on August 1, 1941. The war time rise is now 12.8 per cent. The index of wholesale prices, based on 567 commodities (including vegetable, animal, fibre, textile, wood, paper, non-ferrous metal, non-metallic mineral, and chemical products) was 91.8 in the week ending August 22. 1941, against. 82.7 in the same week. 1940. The present index is higher than at any time in the last eleven years. During the first five months of the present fiscal year, April to August inclusive, national revenue collections were 83 per cent greater than in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. Income tax collections were up 133 per cent and customs and excise collections advanced 82 per cent.