THE BEST USE OF MANPOWER

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 111, 4 February 1941, Page 6

THE BEST USE OF MANPOWER

Cases already heard by the Armed -Forces Appeal Boards show the necessity for separate industries to study the position as groups. The question of making an appeal in most instances has been. left to the individual workers or his employer, and there has been little, if any, evidence made available to the members of the Appeal Boards regarding the state of affairs in an industry as a whole. The first step should be for the firms engaged to review the position generally, and ascertain what would be the minimum number of men necessary for the maintenance of a reasonably efficient service to the public. They might even go further and agree upon the numerical strength required for each member of the group. Evidence along those lines would assist the Appeal Boards, as, while it is their duty to see to it that men called upon for military service enter camp, unless there are good and sufficient reasons for the granting of exemption, they must take into consideration the essential requirements of the industries of the country. One of the most cogent arguments in favour of universal military service was that it enabled the country first to summon for training those who could best be spared from the various branches of production. And that is one of the tasks entrusted to the Appeal Boards. They must decide whether the calling up of the appellants would so adversely affect industry, in one form or another, that it would be better, in the interests of the Dominion, to grant exemption. But the position can hardly be studied fully if only the positions of. the man, and his firm, are reviewed. There is the larger and equally important aspect of the industry as a whole. If spokesmen for the industry could put forward evidence as to either the minimum number of trained men required to-maintain production, or the maximum number of those actually employed who could be spared, then, the members of the boards would be able the better to assess the weight to be put on an appeal by any one individual or firm. Something in the nature of a group survey would meet the need, and it might lead to a degree of co-operation between the firms concerned. As things arc, the run of the ballot might involve several employees of one firm and none of another. If the industry could show that so many men were absolutely essential for the maintenance of the service then adjustments could be made, and some equality of sacrifice assured. Action along these lines would probably be welcomed by the Government. The British authorities had to release large numbers of men from the forces in order that they might take their old places in industry, where, they were sorely needed. All desire to avoid that risk, with its inevitable economic waste, and if the requirements of an industrial group wete made available to the Appeal Boards it should be of practical assistance.