DEVELOPMENTS IN BRITAIN

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 June 1942, Page 6

DEVELOPMENTS IN BRITAIN

COAL MINERS’ WAGES.

LONDON, June 3. Although the White, Paper on coal does not mention miners’ wages, the diplomatic correspondent of ue “Daily Telegraph” says there is reason to believe that the Government has decided in favour of increased wages, and also of a national minimum wage for industry. The Government is believed to have accepted the owners’ view that industry cannot afford a substantial wage increase and will authorise the poorer coalfields Io raise prices. It is also believed that a Government subsidy to the industry may be granted. DEBATE ON PENSIONS.

RUGBY, June 4. The Lord Privy Seal announced in the Commons that, on the second and third sitting days of the next series, there will be a debate on a Government motion to approve the coal proposals. It was also hoped that there would be an opportunity at an early date for a discussion on old-age and widows’ pensions, and family allowances. FOOD "SUPPLIES. LONDON, June 3. The Minister of food (Lord Woolton) is to take over control of the nation's milk supply. He aims at cutting out the middleman between the milk producers and the retailers. The supply is to be rationalised in order to release more men for the armed forces. Further plans concerning food, distribution wore given by Lord Woolton at the climax of a debate in the House of Lords. He said that he intended to make early arrangements for retailers to draw their supplies from wholesalers in certain areas. The* scheme is expected to save overlapping of labour as well as petrol and transport, while the cost of distribution of food .supplies, especially vegetables, will bo reduced. Lord Woolton also asked for the decentralisation of the big markets.

SCRAP METAL.

RUGBY, June 4

More Ilian iwo hundred thousand tons of railings mid gates have been iwllei’l.i.'d in Itril.mi. nci-ording Io flu 1 latest oliici.'il Ili’.iiri■.;. Fitch iiii.-l.il as iliis represent Hit- equivalent ol 125,901) “Valentine" lank;; or enough scrap metal to manufacture steel for thirteen thirty-live thousand-ton battleships. The tonnage so far collected is about Ihc original estimate, which is likely to be exceeded. Nearly half of the total so far collected comes from London. —8.0.W. POST-WAR trade. (Recd 11.15 a.m.) LONDON. June 4. The National Union of Manufacturers, in a memorandum to the Board of Trade on post-war trade, states: “Any plans for future world trade can only be made effective if they have the cordial assent and cooperation of Russia. If Russia, with the help of England and America, is able to smash Germany, she will probably be the most-powerful single State in the world." The memorandum also states: “The change in markets abroad, resulting from the war and the growth of secondary industries in other countries, especially the British Dominions, may make some measure of organisation and direction of export trade almost inevitable. It may also necessitate a revision of the Ottawa agreements, for if the Dominions, owing to their altered circumstances, take few products of our secondary industries, we shall be unable to buy as much of their primary products as we used to, and the agreements may have to be .amended to meet this altered situation. This revision may provide the opportunity for placing our home agriculture on a more suitable footing.”

NO ISOLATION FROM EUROPE

RUGBY. June 4

The Lord President of the Council (Sir .1. Anderson), speaking at the London County Hall, said the disappointments suffered in the Far East could onlv have been avoided bydenuding Britain of troops guarding it against invasion, or by violating the solemn undertaking to send assistance to Russia. "I need not conceal from you that great projects, are in contemplation, and their culmination will be the linal test ol the soundness of our plans.” Speaking of the future, Sir J. Anderson said: There was a time,, not very long ago, when Great Britain could afford to detach herself from European affairs, taking a position of isolation, determined not by weakness but. by strength. That time had gone, never to return, however strong we may become in the future. The development of air communications has given us a ■ sense ol common frontiers which we never had before. We shall have to devote ourselves more and more closely in the later stages of the war io preparing lor that collaboration with tne other nations, including other members of the British Commonwealth, which was foreshadowed in Atlantic Charter.

AGREEMENT WITH BELGIUM

RUGBY, June 4

The British and. Belgian Foreign Ministers, to-day signed two agreements concerning co-operation between Britain and Belgium in war. In the first, agreement, the two Governments reaffirm the determination to prosecute the war to a successful conclusion, and confirm tnat one of the objects is the re-establishment. ol freedom and independence * m Belgium. The two Governments recognise tiie importance ol maintaining armed forces in Belgium, and ±ay down principles, on which those forces are organised lor co-operation with the Allied forces. An intebeifthig development, also covered is the formation of a special Belgian section within the Royal Navy. The second agreement renews arrangements for the purchase of commodities from the Belgian Congo. MONARCHS IN SCOTLAND. RUGBY, June 3. The King and Queen visited Kilmarnock and Paisley to-day. They were welcomed by cheering crowds as they made a short tour of civil defence posts, war workshops, and a day nursery.