BRITAIN’S MAN POWER

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 April 1940, Page 7

BRITAIN’S MAN POWER

FOR WAR AND INDUSTRY. [BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.] RUGBY, April 16. During a discussion in the Commons on the organisation of man-power, today, the Minister of Labour announced that the calling-up date for men aged 27 would be May 25. The numbers mobilised, either for military service or for reservation in vital industrial employment, hgd reached 1,700,000. Since the outbreak of war, 300,000 had volunteered for the armed forces. There had to be maintained a balance of man-power as between the armed forces and the needs of industry. Involved in that was a factor known only to the Government, and which he could not divulge—the size at which the armed forces had been fixed. The Minister dealt with the measures taken to release from military duty men whose qualifications were essential to war production at Home. He paid a tribute to the invaluable co-op-eration of the trade unions in the organisation of industry for war. From the begimining of rearmament, it had been emphasised repeatedly that the maximum effort would not be felt before the second or the third year. They were now reaching that stage. The Government had prepared an estimate of the probable requirements of man-power in war and industry for 18 months ahead. This was secret, but the employers and workers in the various industries concerned had been taken into the Government’s confidence.. The Minister paid a tribute to the smooth working of all the arrangements necessary for bringing industry to the pitch of productivity that the war effort required, and to the growth over recent years in the efficiency of the machinery for collective bargaining between the employers and the trade

COTTON AND RAYON

RUGBY, April 16.

In,order to free the production capacity of'man-power and raw materials for the- export trade, by the restriction of Home consumption, the Board of Trade made ah order- to-day restricting to-75 per cent- of the pre-war quantity, supplies to Home retailers of cotton and rayon piece goods. A restric : tion to 25 per cent, will also be applicable to linen goods.