Re-Conversion Will Be Acute In Britain

Northern Advocate, 2 December 1944, Page 5

Re-Conversion Will Be Acute In Britain

(Rec. 11.30 a.m.)

LONDON, Dec. 1

Only one in three of Britain’s labour force is employed on civilian production, which means that the task of re-conver-sion will be far more acute here than elsewhere, says the Associated Press. Also operating against the restoration of pre-war production of civilian goods, will be the necessary replacement of internal and external capital, together with the making good of war damage to both industrial equipment and house property. Economic opinion, therefore, doubts the possibility of an appreciable improvement in the standard of living, especially in the early transition years. » A factor increasing the uneasiness is the frequently reported unresponsiveness of Government departments to industrialists’ representations on the subject of resumption of manufacture where capacity is released through slackening of war orders. Steel firms, particularly, complain of official undecidedness, but hopes of a changed attitude have been raised by the new Lend-Lease agreement which will free a wide range of steel-using industries from previous export restrictions. The recent behaviour of equities does noi suggest great confidence in either industrial or governmental preparedness for peacetime transitional problems.