BRITAIN’S INDUSTRIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 July 1945, Page 6

BRITAIN’S INDUSTRIES

IRON AND STEEL OUTPUT HUGE FIVE-YEAR PLAN (Rec. 2.45 p.m.) LONDON, July .22. A five-year-plan for the British steel industry involving an expenditure of 20 millions sterling, and -.increasing production by 20 per cent., was announced by Sir John Duncanson, commercial technical director ot the British Iron and Steel Federation- mu. The “Daily Express” says: The programme is so extensive it will benefit all parts of industrial Britain. Nearly orie-third of the nati° n s blast furnaces will be rebuilt ana replaced by the 'latest models. ine national capacity for producing steel will be raised . from 14,500,000 to nearly 18,000,000 tons yearly, much of which will necessarily be exported to fill some gap caused by the reduction of Germany’s industry. The completion of the British plan within five years will depend firstly on adequate building labour and reasonable Priority in materials; secondly, on ability of the British heavy engineering mdustrv to manufacture the equipment. It is probable that much of the equipment needed lor the most modern mil’s and furnaces will be imported from America. It is not proposed to ask any Government agencies to provide capital for the steel programme. Public investors will be asked to put uo the money to leading firms, all oi which will work under the reconstructed British Iron ana Steel reaeration. The programme will not lead to the direct employment of more steel workers. The whole idea is to produce steel more economically with labour-saving appliances. The “Daily Express says that Germanv’s iron and steel Production is being reduced from 27,000,000 .to 10,000,000 tons yearly. Two out of every three furnaces will be eliminated, and most of the rolling mills will be dismantled. The huge Hermann Goering works will be quartered.

BETRO ~RUGBY, July 22. Fifty leading figures in British commercial life, representing some of the strongest firms in the country, with a total capital of several hundred million met last week to set into operation the recently-formed Bn tish Export Trade tion, writes a correspondent. These men were the nucleus of ninety-nine founder and 112 ordinary member frms who have ’ so tar joined “BETRO.” RUSSIAN ESTIMATE LONDON, July 20. ‘■The New Times of Moscovy” says: The prospect of mass unemployment lies upon the whole social life oi Bntain. like an evil shadow. The papei sums up Britain’s post-war industrial potentialities. It added: “Britain s exports must at least, be one and times more than they were befere the war to pay for her nec e ss ports of raw materials and oi food. PRISONERS FOR HARVEST WORK . 'RUGBY, July 20. British farmers recently have been doubtful whether their labour needs for the coming harvest would be met. The action now taken by the Mimstii y ot Agriculture has dispelled . those fears? It has been arranged, in the first place, that 30,000 additional prisoners of war for whom accommodation is now being P re P* 'X 11 available. At present. 120,000 pnsoners of war are on farm work, as against 60,000 last year. The present decision will bring the. total to 150,000, of whom. nearly 100,000 me In addition members of the forces on home service will be freed to assist county war agricultural conv mittees and individual farmers m the locality of their camps. Former agricultural workers at home or in. the British forces in Europe will be given 28 days’ agricultural leave on application by' their previous employers. A Ministry of Agriculture, official said to-day: ‘Should a crisis arise during the harvest, there are still resources* which could be tapped to supply more men.”

8.8. C. TELEVISION. LONDON, July 19. The Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation (Mr. W J Haley) told correspondents that television would be introduced in Britain as soon as the Government gave the word. It would take nine months to prepare for actual transmissions, he said, but in spite of all the research done during the war, the range of television reception had been increased only from 40 to 45 miles. He said that new programmes would be introduced in the home service, and there was' no reason why the 8.8. C. programme should not be as good as any in the world. HOUSING DECREES. RUGBY, July 20. The Minister of Health (Mr. Willink) to-day made two orders to speed up housing accommodation in the United Kingdom. The first gives local authorities power to requisition an empty house for immediate use, and the second extends the amount of money which private owners and tenants could spend in putting houses in repair. During the war, this sum was not allowed to exceed £lOO. Henceforth this amount may be exceeded. SOUTHAMPTON HARBOUR. (Rec. 1.30 p.m.) LONDON, July 22. Thousands of tons of sand silting up the approaches of Southampton Water prevented the entry of the Queen Elizabeth,' Queen Mary and Aquitania and upset the greatest westward movement of' troops ever planned. Vast contingents from the Continent and throughout Britain have been concentrating for months at Southampton and the neighbourhood. but the camps, which required months to build, will be useless. Enormous expenditure will be involved in transporting Americans, with a vast amount of equipment and stores, to northern ports. _____