MAN-POWER BRITISH MOBILISATION

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 74, 24 September 1943, Page 7

MAN-POWER BRITISH MOBILISATION

"UNEXCELLED ANYWHERE" Rec. 11.20 a.m. RUGBY, . Sept.. 23.

Opening a debate on man-power in the House of Commons, Mr. Beyin, Minister of Labour and National Service, stressed the importance of anticipating heavy casualties when the second front came into action. In the gig-antic struggle which would be facing us in 1944, he said, every provision must be made for them. Saying that mobilisation had reached a stage in Britain not excelled by any other country, Mr. Bevin added that to date they had registered all women between the ages of 18 and 47.

"I take it that it is the will of the House that I ought to stop at nothing until we have won, whatever the consequences may be," he said. "Of the 33,000,000 people between 17 and 64 at my disposal, 22,650,000 are in the Services, in civil defence, or in paid employment. That includes 700,000 women doing part-time work. Of 16,000,000 males in the country between 14 and 65, over 15,000,000 are in the service of the country or in paid employment. Of 17,000,000 women between 14 and 64, 7,750,000 are in the Services or paid employment. Over 1,000,000 are doing unpaid voluntary work and giving service to the country of a national character.

CARE OF CHILDREN.

"Over 9.000,000 children "under 14 have to be looked after. This I regard as a national service. Of single women between 18 and 40, 91 per cent, are working. That,leaves only 9 per cent, for sickness or ailments. Over 80 per cent, of married'women of that age group without children are engaged in the war effort." Commenting on these achievements, Mr. Bevin declared: "We had to do it, and we have done it, which, I think, is a triumph of British organisation and genius." He added that there were over 1,000.000 men and women over 65 in fall-time paid employment in the war effort. On the Merseyside and in Manchester the average age of the dockers was 51, and they were giving a remarkable turn-round of ships. "I saw the other day a man of 83 wheeling three hundredweight bags of Cuban sugar," he added. The Minister said that over 2,500,000 women had been recruited to the forces and to industry from the non-manual and non-industrial classes. Between January last year and June this year over 1,000,000 persons were added to the forces and to the munitions industry. Britain was employing 2,250,000 people more on munitions than at the end of the last war.

PLANE-BUILDING PRIORITY.

Cabinet had decided to give priority to aircraft construction, and women up to 50 living in aircraft districts could be of great help if they went in at once. One million six hundred thousand women between 40 and 60 were already in employment, and over half a million between 46 and 50.

The Minister said he recognised that in calling up the older women great care would have to be exercised. He added that he wanted 30,000 men for the mining industry as soon as possible, and 20,000 next year if vacancies still existed after use had been made of those who had opted or had volunteered.

Professor J. J. Craik-Henderson (Conservative) said that the United States up to now had not conscripted one woman, and he suggested that there could be cuts in the staffs of Government Departments before calling up middle-aged women.

. Mrs. Adamson (Labour) said that, speaking generally, women in Britain were not opposed to the direction of women between 45 and 50 into industry.—B.O.W.