FACTORY PRODUCTION

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 56, 4 September 1939, Page 3

FACTORY PRODUCTION

SUPPLY OF MATERIAL CONTROLLER TO BE APPOJNTED The Minister of Supply, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, states that the Factory Emergency Regulations are an essential part of the Supply Control Emergency Regulations and that they provide for the regulation and control of factory production in those instances where such action is necessary in the public interest during a period of war. "Manufacturers will be only too well aware of the many difficulties which may arise not only in supplying many essential requirements for defence purposes but also in providing the needs of the civil population without interruption and in maintaining continuity of employment," said the Minister. "Many of the problems which may be involved will be related to those materials vital for factory production which perforce have to be imported from overseas countries. Under certain conditions which might develop it would be necessary in the public interest for some classes of materials to be conserved to the utmost degree, with the. additional possibility of devising the use of alternative materials or substitutes from domestic sources." The regulations invest the Factory Controller, acting under general or special direction from the Minister of Supply, with the necessary powers to control production according to the necessity of public interest, and to direct the use or substitution 6f materials. The Factory Controller is also given powers to en-; able him to obtain full information concerning stocks of materials. The Minister states that the emergency powers contained in the regulations will only be put into force-in those instances for which such action is vital to the" needs .of- the;country. His intimate "association with manufacturers during the past few years enables him to foresee many of the problems which they may ■■ encounter during a period of stress and he-states that full opportunity will be afforded for consultation through the Manufacturers' Federation wherever it is possible to make, such arrangements. The Minister also states that he is fully confident that the manufacturers, together with all those persons engaged in factory production, will rally lo the aid of the Government and the country with their full support so that where? control is necessary it will be effected promptly and smoothly for the j benefit of the whole, nation.