MR. SHINWELL

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 February 1947, Page 7

MR. SHINWELL

URGED TO STAND FIRM A COALITION GOVERNMENT OPPOSED LABOUR ORGANISATIONS’ VIEW (Recd. 11.40 a.m.) RONDON, February 11. Telegrams, mostly from labour organisations, are pouring into . the House of Commons for the Minister of Fuel, Mr. Shinwell, encouraging him to stand firm, insisting that he must not resign in any circumstances and expressing the strongest hostility to any Coalition Government. Describing the Stock Exchange reaction to the fuel emergency as “remarkably restrained,” Reuter’s financial editor says that home industrial shares Ibst an average of 2| per cent, which is not a sensational fluctuation. There is nothing remotely describable as heavy unloading. The Stock Exchange seems to have provided an accurate barometer of the national feeling. This being an economic Dunkirk, it brings out something of the Dunkirk spirit says Reuters.

The lost production percentage is about equal .to that from one of the great American strikes in 1946 and Britain is feeling for once a crisis which in most of the . Continental countries has became a commonplace. The week’s direct bill in output and national income taken over the whole year may hardly be more than onehalf per cent, but the indirect effects in spreading the aggravating bottlenecks should not be minimised.

American Story Denied. The Minister of Fuel, Mr. Shin-well, questioned in the House of Commons, denied reports that - Britain is negotiating with America to buy American coal for bunkering. Mr. Shinwell said no negotiations were taking place in the United States, but it was hoped that arrangements could be macle temporarily to revert to the system of double-bunkering on the other side by shipping companies. The National Union of Manufacturers issued a statement saying that the union was “seriously alarmed at the prospect before industry.” It added that practically all the 4000 firms which the union represented had been forced to close down and remain in complete uncertainty as to 'when they will be able to resume normal production and full employment. The union called upon the Government to consult the industry as to the best means of preventing a recurrence of the present calamitous situation. The Engineering and Allied Trades Shop Stewards’ national council issued a statement demanding that all workers whom the crisis has affected should be paid a full week’s money. It added that where this not conceded the workers should go ir~ a body to the labour exchange.