WAR COUNCIL MEETS

Southland Times, Issue 24112, 29 April 1940, Page 7

WAR COUNCIL MEETS

Four Governments

Represented

(British Official Wireless) (Received April 28, 6.30 p.m.)

RUGBY, April 27.

The ninth meeting of the Supreme War Council was held in London today. France was represented by the Prime Minister (M. Paul Reynaud), the Minister for War (M. Edouard Daladier), the Minister for the Navy (M. Cesar Campinchi), and the Minister for Air (M. Laurent-Eynac), who were accompanied by the Ambassador in London (M. Charles Corbin), the Allied Comman-der-in-Chief (General Marie Gamelin), the Chief of the Naval Staff (Admiral Jean Darlan) and the Chief of the Air Staff (General Pierre Vuillemin). Bri-

tain was represented by the Prime Minister (Mr Neville Chamberlain), the Foreign Secretary . (Lord Halifax), the First Lord of the Admiralty (Mr Winston Churchill), the Secretary for War (Mr Oliver Stanley) and the Secretary for Air (Sir Samuel Hoare), who were accompanied by the Permanent Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs (Sir Alexander Cadogan), the Chief of the Air Staff (Air Chief Marshal Sir Cyril Newall), the First Sea Lord (Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound) and the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (General Sir Edmund Ironside). The Polish and Norwegian Governments also took part in the discussion. The meeting of the council was held in continuation of the meeting in Paris earlier in the week. In a short session the council reached unanimity in a number of questions arising from the present phase of the war. The council considered various situations that might arise in the near future and took a note of measures planned to meet them. EXPENDITURE ON WAR SERVICES COMPETITION FOR SKILLED WORKERS (British Official Wireless) (Received April 28, 6.30 p.m.)

RUGBY, April 27.

General approval is expressed in the Press of the report of the Select Committee on expenditure on services directly connected with the war. Two important suggestions have been particularly noted. The first is the need of prompt measures to deal with the competition for skilled workers now going on between engineering firms and the methods being adopted to tempt men from one firm to another. The committee notes that the most active bidders for such workers are aircraft firms, and draws the conclusion that their contracts must be on extremely favourable terms if they are able to stand these additions to their

labour costs. The Manchester Guardian says that this question is only part of the general problem of the proper use of skilled labour with which the Ministry of Labour must urgently grapple. The second suggestion is the need for dealing with preventable waste, and the committee urges a national factfinding inquiry into the whole question of such waste and salvage.