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ISSUES IN BRITAIN

WAR ECONOMY & PARTY POLITICS SOME UNSOLVED PROBLEMS. COAL DISPUTE & FUEL RATIONING. (Special P. A. Correspondent.) (Received This Day, 10.10 a.m.) LONDON, June 1. Increasing austerity, the coal dispute, and party politics are among the main features of topical comment in Britain today. The demand for a “second front” is still, active, but is somewhat mollified by the statements made here and also in America. Austerity measures include the tightening up of rules for clothing, hotel meals, the laying up of private cars, the standardisation wherever possible of a 52-hour week for industrial workers and a 46-hour week for office staffs; also a. warning that public travelling will shortly be curtailed and non-essential journeys cut out. From June 1, the manufacture ol lace curtains is ceasing, with a great reduction of such things as felt hats, cloth caps and mattresses. Shoes will be patched instead of being resoled and reheeled. All these things indicate growing shortages and also Britain’s determination to put everything into the war effort. Coal and the rationing of fuel and light are one of the chief domestic questions. The “Economist observes that a battle for political power is now going on behind the scenes. At present it is raging round the coal industry. The “evening Standards” comment is that coal politically is dynamite. Cabinet is now considering the miners’ demands for increased wages. Meanwhile thousands of miners, who were striking, have returned to work pending a decision. One of Britain’s great needs at the moment is an increased coal output, for while the rationing of domestic and industrial supplies is essential, it is not thought that this measure is enough to meet the situation. It is realised that some time will elapse before rationing can start, for which reason a save fuel campaign is being introduced. There is nothing new about coal disputes in Britain. They have been the subject of fierce politicate and industrial strife for many years, but they are again brought into the limelight as a result of the great demand for coal, the shortage of labour and a comparison of miners’ wages with-those paid in other war industries. More will certainly be heard about coal and fuel rationing. Party politics came into view last week during the Labour Party’s annual conference, which showed that Labour is by no means comfortable in its association with other elements in the National Government. It is also uneasy regarding the political truce, feeling, for one thing, that Independents have been getting into Parliament on Labour views. MANY STRIKES MINERS' GRIEVANCES. OTHER WORKERS RELATIVELY BETTER PAID. (Received This Day. 10.5 a.m.) LONDON, June 1. As a result of a joint appeal by the Government and the miners’ leaders, 1,200 men and boys, after a week’s stoppage, returned to work at the Seaham Collieries. The “Yorkshire Post” says fifteen collieries in Yorkshire alone have been involved in strikes during the last fortnight, chiefly over wage demands. A serious aspect is the miners’ officials apparent loss of control. The “Scotsman,” in a leader, says: “It should not be necessary to hold up production during war time over wages, but the Government is partly to blame for not introducing a national wage policy. The lack of such a policy has enabled the miners to point to the fact that other classes of workers, doing less strenuous and less disagreeable work, are more highly remunerated.”

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAITA19420602.2.27

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1942, Page 3

Word count
Tapeke kupu
566

ISSUES IN BRITAIN Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1942, Page 3

ISSUES IN BRITAIN Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1942, Page 3

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