PRODUCTION LOSS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22200, 10 December 1946, Page 5

PRODUCTION LOSS

COAL SHORTAGE FEARS IN BRITAIN MOTOR CARS AND COTTON (Special Correspondent.; (11 a.m.) LONDON. Dec. 9. The call by the Mihister of Fuel and Power, Mr, E. Shinwell, to industry to cut its weekly coal consumption by 5 per cent and gas and electricty by 2£ per cent, combined with the effects of the coal strike in America, may have a sharp effect on Britain’s trade production drive. Mr. Shinwell is communicating with between 4000 and 5000 industrial undertakings stating that despite the improved output Britain is in a worse position than a year ago since the gain in the production of coal has been more than offset by increased consumption. Supplies of coal may fall short of total requirements by 2,000,000 to 5,000,000 tons this winter. Domestic consumers will have to use less or they will be cut off, and clubs, hotels, restaurants and places which consume more than 100 tons of fuel annually will also be reduced. It is feared that a heavy loss in production in cotton and motor industries, which are already working on a stringent level of fuel consumption, will result from Mr. Shinwell’s order. From America it is reported that British supply officials state that their reconstruction-purchasing programme in the United States has been paralysed by the coal strike. The shipment of virtually all machinery and materials required for the equipment of British industry and export drive has already been halted. The hardest blow dealt has been to the steel buying programme. In addition to the serious backlog already marked up against the 1946 programme, it has been found impossible to place an order for 2,000,000 tons of steel required for 1947.