MANUFACTURERS' YEAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24106, 27 October 1941, Page 3

MANUFACTURERS' YEAR

WAR CREATES PROBLEMS RAW MATERIAL AND MANPOWER "The year has been a difficult one for manufacturers, clue in the main to uncertainty in the supply of rawmaterials," says the report of the Auckland Manufacturers' Association, which will be presented at the annual meeting on November 10. The report records that membership, which is 510, has been well maintained, while an excess of income over expenditure of £221 is shown. '•The call on men for the armed forces had created a considerable amount of concern to a number of members already in short supply of skilled workmen," the report continues. "Every endeavour has been made to release men not absolutely essential to production, but where maximum production of essential goods is necessary, manufacturers have been obliged in the national interest to submit their cases to the Armed Forces Ay>peal Board." The report records that during the year more than the usual amount of attention has been given to new legislation affecting manufacturers and manufacturing. The number of -problems arising out of war conditions has not. in any way diminished, supplies of raw materials are becoming more and more difficult to obtain, while loss of men to the armed forces calls for considerable readjustment in industry. ".Members who have been called upon to manufacture certain war requirements have been working to capacity," the report adds. "Others who have plant available remain eager to take their full share. The council is of the opinion that the indication by the Government. of a long-range policy that would permit the establishment of the necessary organisation would greatly facilitate production."