MANPOWER CONTROL.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 228, 25 August 1945, Page 4

MANPOWER CONTROL.

The substantial relaxation in manpower control announced by the Government is a matter of prime interest. While of necessity it cannot be satisfactory to everyone, the prompt manner in which the statement was made following Japan's surrender will not pass unnoticed. . In future all married women, all other women of 30 or more, and all men 45 years and over have been released from control of the department, and employers need no longer be compelled to apply for consent to employ labour in the exempted classes, though still under the obligation to notify the manpower officer of engagements. In a number of industries control will be maintained and the list does not cause surprise. The Minister, however, promises that it will be lifted as early as possible, though this is not likely to take place this year. On the other hand control can be revoked by the end of September in quite a number of industries. Necessarily, the process generally must be gradual and is bound up with men released from the Armed Forces taking up their previous occupations in these industries. Thus as time passes it is quite likely that the number of persons liable to direction will considerably decrease. Wherever control is maintained it will be the Government's duty _to satisfy the public it is essential. Control in many forms has existed for a long time and it is clear, apart from the relaxations announced in regard to manpower, that the Government does not intend to lift some whose retention is open to serious question.