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Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 138, 6 March 1940, Page 9

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Dominions’ Growing War Industries BRITISH ECONOMIC STABILITY (British Official Wireless.) (Received March 5, 7.5 p.m.) RUGBY, March 4. A great increase in the material resources available for the Empire war effort compared with the last war is revealed by recent figures obtained from authoritative quarters which show that the Dominions and India now contain about 30,000 more factories than was the case in 1914, while the number of industrial workers in the Dominions has risen by 69 per cent. The value of industrial production of Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa has risen by 170 per cent, to a total of £398,000,000, and that of Canada alone by 156 per cent, to 3,600,000,000 dollars. A very satisfactory increase in Canada’s steel production shows that the annual output has risen from 740,000 tons in 1914 to more than 1,155.000 tons, and the petrol output has increased 36-fold to more than 7,500,000 barrels. Another instance is provided by Australia, which in the last war bad to obtain all the war supplies except rifles and small arms ammunition from Britain and which now produces almost all kinds of war requirements herself. Figures issued by the Ministry of Labour reveal that the total number of unemployed in Great Britain on February 12 was 1,505,100. which was a drop of 14,796 compared with January 15 and a drop of 392,618 compared with February 13 last year. War Savings Campaign. The following message has been sent by the King to the president of the National Savings Committee: “As patron of the National Savings movement, I have followed with great interest the progress of the war savings campaign since the commencement toward the end of last November. On being informed today that the amount invested in National Savings Certificates and defence bonds had reached a total of £100,000,000 sterling, I desire to thank all who have assisted, -whether as organizers or contributors, in tlie achievement of this remarkable result. It is a fine example of the determination of my people to dedicate their energies and resources to the winning of victory and peace.” The comparative stability of British wholesale commodity prices is noticed in “The Economist’s” fortnightly index, in Which it appears that the prices have remained substantially unchanged since January 30. Though there has been a slight rise in foodstuffs other than, meat and cereals from 79.7 to 81. S, and a rise of five points in minerals, these are counterbalanced by a decrease in the textile and meat and cereal prices. “The Economist” suggests that both price-fixing and the stability of the free market have been contributing factors toward this result. Meat rationing is due to come into effect on March 11. In the meantime, in the last few days there has been a certain amount of disorganization ot supplies, specially in London and the home counties areas. This has arisen from difficulties which butchers have experienced in adjusting their normal buying procedure to the prevailing conditions. Thus, though there is no shortage of meat in the country as a whole, in a few areas consumers have not been able to get supplies because the shops have refused to accept the allocation of the local food authorities. Overcoming Problem. The temporary difficulties, which the Food Ministry hopes soon to overcome, arise from two main causes: The first Is the corollary of the Government’s undertaking to home agriculture of a guaranteed market for livestock, there being few facilities for freezing homekilled meat in Britain; and the second is that imported beef is almost exclusively required for the British fighting services and the French front-line troops. . Consequently, in the supplies available for the home market the proportion of beef is largely reduced compared with that of mutton and lamb, and it can well be understood t’hdt the butchers in the London area are finding it difficult to adapt themselves to these changes and that there has been certain resentment among them against the type of meat distributed. The Ministry of Food, however, states that the meat control scheme is now running more smoothly every week. In spite of the difficulties in its early days owing to the severity of the weather, which disorganized distribution, no one was entirely without meat.

As far as can be ascertained by the Ministry of Food, the average loss of potato stores in Britain due to the recent severe weather was about 5 per cent.