I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £1,171,359 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1943, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí Oifig an Aire Soláthairtí ar a n-áirmhítear Conganta Airgid áirithe díoc.
That a sum not exceeding £1,171,359 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1943, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Minister for Supplies including payment of certain subsidies.
I assume that Deputies will not require any detailed review of the organisation of the Department of Supplies, and would prefer that I should deal rather with the problems with which the Department is dealing and the matters of policy which are receiving its attention. The Department of Supplies was established to discharge two main functions, firstly, to assist and, if necessary, to organise the importation of essential supplies from abroad in the difficult circumstances created by the world war, and, secondly, to regulate the internal distribution of necessary commodities, whether imported or home-produced, which were, or became, in short supply. At the beginning of the emergency, the Government decided on the creation of a special Department for those purposes, not with the expectation that by such means a shortage of necessary goods could be prevented and this community protected from all the consequences of the international upheaval, but in the belief that, in the matter of procuring supplies from overseas unassisted and unco-ordinated, private enterprise would be ineffective, and that in the course of a long universal war a shortage of all classes of commodities formerly imported or produced here by means of imported materials, imported machinery or imported fuel, was inevitable.
I think it is necessary to restate the functions of the Department of Supplies because, during the three years of its existence, many false conceptions of them have been voiced both in this House and outside it. Apparently some foolish people consider that by the mere declaratoin of neutrality in the conflict this nation secured for itself immunity from all the hardships and even the minor irritations which a universal war might reasonably have been expected to create. It is held to be the fault of the Department of Supplies that, despite the disorganisation of international trade, the destruction of means of communication, the complete cutting off in many instances of sources of supply, and the general conscription of labour and material for war purposes in belligerent countries, many classes of goods are not procurable or are only available to us in very restricted quantities.
From the very outset of the conflict the members of the Government have by every means open to them endeavoured to tell the people what world war must involve for them. But they have found it extraordinarily difficult to get many people to appreciate it. Those who most stubbornly refused to listen were loudest in their complaints when the Government's warnings came true and difficulties began to take shape. The complacent attitude of members of the public was supported by the fact that for the first 18 months of the war the efforts of the Department of Supplies were able to prevent any real shortage appearing and also by the speeches of members of this House who reiterated for Party purposes or their own glorification that all our difficulties were due solely to the Government and would not have existed had they charge of the nation's affairs.
The difficulties which have emerged during the course of the war and which now confront us are in many respects greater than those anticipated when the war was only beginning. The area of the world over which the war has spread is larger than appeared at first to be likely. Many nations which at the beginning were neutral, and no doubt like ourselves hoped to remain neutral, have since become involved. The general course of the war has developed in a manner which could not have been foreseen and has affected our ability to secure supplies concerning which difficulties were not anticipated and against which no provision could have been made. On previous occasions I have given the Dáil an outline of the many supply difficulties which have emerged from time to time, told it of the efforts made by the Department of Supplies to cope with these difficulties, and of the success or failure of these efforts. With the prolongation and extension of the war, these difficulties have grown enormously and efforts to secure supplies of an ever-growing list of goods are meeting with diminishing success. The range of commodities in the importation of which my Department is directly involved, or the distribution of which has had to be controlled, has widened and it would not be possible to give in any reasonable time even a bare outline of the position in respect of each of them. I propose, therefore, in the course of this introductory statement to deal only in general terms with the activities of the Department during the past year and to refer to specific commodities only if they are of such general interest as to require reference or for purposes of illustration.
The various activities of the Department of Supplies can be classified under four main heads. The first of these in order of importance is the procuring of supplies from abroad; secondly, the transportation of goods from abroad and the various problems that affect transport and communications both external and internal; thirdly, the control of the internal distribution of commodities in short supply; and, fourthly, the regulation of prices and the measures adopted generally for the enforcement of various controls considered necessary. In the matter of supplies from overseas, the outstanding development of the past year which directly and immediately affected our position in respect of a number of very important commodities was the extension of the war into the western Pacific area. That extension of the area of the war had direct and immediate repercussions upon our ability to procure additional supplies of rubber, of tea, of jute, and many other industrial materials. The full consequence of the stoppage of supplies of these goods is as yet only partially appreciated by most people and it is perhaps desirable to give in respect of them a brief outline of the present position and future prospects.
Most Deputies are, I think, familiar already with the problems that have arisen in consequence of the stoppage of supplies of raw rubber. It can be taken that our supplies are completely stopped. Possibly, by various methods, small additional quantities may be procured from time to time, but I think that wisdom obviously suggests that we should proceed upon the assumption that for the duration of the war, and perhaps for many years after the termination of the war, no fresh supplies of raw rubber will be available to us. The stocks which were available in the country when the sources of supply were cut off cannot be supplemented and they must therefore be conserved and controlled so as to make them serve as best they can the essential needs of the country for many years. I think most Deputies will agree that the sound policy is to reserve the major portion of these stocks for the manufacture of tyres for commercial vehicles so that essential transport can be maintained as long as possible.
By drastically restricting the use of rubber for all other purposes, and only by drastically restricting such use, it will be possible to meet these minimum essential needs to the end of 1943, but, after that, there will be none. If we should decide to utilise stocks for any other purposes less essential, however desirable some Deputies may think them to be, then the date will have to be brought forward and the complete exhaustion of our stocks of rubber will take place earlier. By the measures now in force we can, however, see our way to maintain a supply of rubber tyres for commercial vehicles engaged in essential services until the end of next year. The problem that will arise after that will be obvious, unless by some means additional supplies can be procured.
In the case of tea, the House is, I think, aware that, in order to supplement supplies coming to us from the United Kingdom, an organisation was set up by the Government—Tea Importers, Ltd.—to purchase in India additional supplies for transportation here. That organisation did, in fact, succeed in purchasing a very substantial quantity of tea, a quantity which, if it had been possible to transport it to this country in time, would have eased our position considerably. Unfortunately, however, the development of the war effectively prevented the transportation of the great majority of the stocks purchased by Tea Importers, Ltd., which were held in store in Calcutta. Some proportion of those stocks has been moved and is either in transit to this country or has already reached it, but that proportion is substantially less than half the total quantity of tea which had been purchased. I think we have to reconcile ourselves to the fact that the balance of the tea purchased by Tea Importers, Ltd., and stored in Calcutta, will not reach us.
In order to supplement our tea supplies, and in face of the possibility of a complete cessation of these supplies, arrangements were made with the coffee importers of the country to establish an organisation to purchase coffee. That organisation has purchased a substantial quantity of coffee. The quantity purchased represents very nearly 20 years' supply on the basis of normal consumption. Whether it will be possible to transport all the coffee purchased to this country has yet to be seen, but in view of the magnitude of the commitments which have been entered into, and the desirability of ensuring that coffee importers in this country do not compete against each other in the markets where coffee is available, it will be necessary to place various controls on the importation of coffee. Arrangements to that end are being made. We hope that the coffee purchased by the organisation to which I have referred will reach this country safely. If so, it will help to augment our tea supplies, although to what extent it will do so cannot be stated definitely, because our people are not a coffee-drinking people and coffee as a beverage is much less economical than tea. The quantity of beverage that can be produced from any given amount of coffee is not much more than half the quantity which can be produced from the same amount of tea.
I referred to the difficulties created in respect of supplies of many industrial materials by the development of the war in the western Pacific. I made specific reference to jute. There is available in the country at present a small stock of jute, which, however, we cannot supplement by any efforts of ours. The United Kingdom authorities are making certain monthly allocations of jute to us for the purpose of providing the wrappers required for certain classes of exports. Our normal requirements of sacks and bags made of jute and cotton are 15 millions per year. On another occasion I told the Dáil that one of the major difficulties which I saw facing this country which might disorganise in considerable degree the existing methods of distributing commodities was a possible shortage of containers, such as sacks and bags. That problem is now becoming acute.
I think most Deputies will be able to visualise at once the tremendous problems that will arise to be solved in the distribution of flour and sugar and similar goods in the absence of an adequate supply of suitable containers. We cannot now be certain that an adequate supply of suitable containers will be available. In fact, it seems likely a substantial scarcity will shortly be apparent, and that fact makes it all the more urgent that there should be no wastage of any kind of containers now existing in the country. We have imposed various controls on the distribution and use of the available sacks and bags, and it is of vital importance to the whole community that these controls are made effective and that the regulations which are in force are obeyed by everybody so that no unnecessary damage will be done to any sacks or bags and that they will be returned with the utmost expedition to the place where they are required for immediate utilisation.
I might mention in that connection also that similar difficulties are arising in the matter of procuring supplies of materials required for the manufacture of ropes and cords. It has not been possible to import any manila and there is only a very small supply of sisal. The most important aspect of that shortage is its effect upon the supply of binder twine, which is manufactured from sisal. Our requirements in the current year are estimated to be 2,500 tons. Our pre-war consumption was only 900 tons but there has been, as Deputies know, a very substantial increase in the area under tillage with consequent increase in the demand for binder twine. During last year we were, fortunately, able to meet in full the demand for binder twine. This year, against our requirements of 2,500 tons, there are available only 1,650 tons. We can spread that out by various means. The strength of the twine has been reduced and regulations have been made designed to ensure that binder twine will not be used for any other purpose except that for which it is most urgently required. Experiments are proceeding into the possibility of manufacturing a substitute for binder twine from green flax and other possibilities are also being examined, but it will be obvious from the facts which I have given to the House that, even if we can manage to meet the problem of binder twine in the current year, the problem next year will be almost insuperable.
In addition to the Far Eastern war to which I have referred, the entry of the United States of America into active belligerency has also caused new problems for us. Before the United States of America entered the war no great difficulty was experienced in obtaining from the appropriate American authorities export licences for the goods required here. Now, however, the British blockade control has been merged with the United States control of export and it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain export licences in America for certain types of goods, particularly for metals and for textiles. That position is likely to deteriorate still further. Recently, imports by parcel post from the United States of America, which many firms in this country were availing of to get limited quantities of the goods they require, have been restricted.
It would be impossible to give in the time available even a brief outline of the many developments which took place during the course of the past year in respect of imports from Great Britain. The most noteworthy of these developments was the drastic reduction of coal imports, a reduction which has necessitated here a serious curtailment of rail transport, the rationing of gas supplies and the complete elimination of coal from the domestic fuel ration. It has been frequently suggested by some members of the Dáil that the problem of diminishing supplies of goods previously imported from Great Britain could be removed if some Ministers would go to London to discuss these matters with British Ministers. The implication of those statements is that the curtailment of deliveries to us is due, not to practical difficulties arising in Great Britain, but to British Ministerial decisions prompted by political considerations or, at least, considerations other than the exigencies of their own supply problem. The contacts between my Department and the various Departments of the British Government are numerous, and it has never been suggested by the officers of the British Government with whom we have had contact that any difficulty prevented the maintenance of deliveries to us except shortage of the goods concerning which representations were being made. Nor has it ever been suggested that Ministerial conversations could affect that position. If, by going to London to discuss matters of trade, and assuming that discussions in London could be confined to matters of trade, supplies from Great Britain could be improved, then some indication of that fact would have been given during the many official contacts with the administrative heads of British Departments. No such indication has been given.
It has also been suggested from time to time by members of this House in various debates that we should bargain with Great Britain on the basis of getting increased supplies of British products in return for continued exports of Irish agricultural goods. Those who make that suggestion must be not merely very innocent themselves but they must also assume that the British are very innocent also. There is no point in disguising the fact that in present circumstances our bargaining power is practically nil; our production of bacon and butter has fallen to the point where there is no export surplus, where in fact it is inadequate to supply even the whole of our own requirements. Our main trade with the United Kingdom at present is in live animals and to the extent that we have a surplus of them we have the alternative of selling them in Great Britain or of not selling them at all. Having regard to the reported scarcity of coal in Great Britain and their war requirements of metals and textiles and other goods which are required here, an attempt to put the British Government in the position of having to give us more of these commodities or to do without our cattle would of a certainty lead to a decision to do without our cattle. I do not know how that would improve our circumstances.
Amongst the most serious of the problems with which we have had to deal during the year is that of maintaining transport communications between this country and the possible sources of supply of the goods we require. Deputies are, I think, familiar with the shipping problem which became acute in the winter of 1940 and which led to the decision to form a State shipping company. The attempt to organise an adequate Irish mercantile marine in the middle of a world war was beset with immense difficulties. I do not think members of this House have yet paid sufficient tribute to the men who made that effort and who have succeeded well in bringing into existence a mercantile marine service which, if inadequate to serve our needs, is, nevertheless, of vital importance to this country at the present time. The directors of Irish Shipping, Limited, and the officers of that company have, I think, deserved well of this community. They persisted in their efforts despite the fact that the attempts they were making to create a mercantile marine service to meet our difficulties were often the subject of criticism and often the subject of derision here in this House. Yet, it is upon the success of their efforts that the whole economic life of this nation depends.
No foreign vessel has come to this country since April of last year, except the s.s. "Vicia", a Finnish vessel which came here more or less accidentally, and has since been purchased by Irish Shipping, Limited, three small ships bringing fishmeal from Iceland and quite recently, arising out of a special arrangement, three ships bringing wheat. There were, of course, some neutral vessels chartered to bring cargoes from Lisbon but, apart from these fortuitous arrivals the shipment of cargoes to this country was dependent entirely on ships now in the service of Irish Shipping, Limited. It has purchased 13 ships of which eight are in service. These ships have been operating, despite all the difficulties of bunkering and supplies, and the general conduct of shipping operations through the area of active belligerency, with considerable efficiency and as a result, our position is much easier than it might otherwise have been. There have been mishaps to these ships but so far we have been fortunate in that none of them has been lost through sinking. As Deputies are aware these ships are at the present time engaged almost exclusively on the transportation of wheat. On various occasions members of the House have pleaded for the provision of shipping space for industrial commodities of one kind or another. The most recent was for shipping space for newsprint. The importance of these commodities to the industries using them, and the importance of an adequate supply of newsprint for the maintenance of our newspapers, is fully appreciated, but I want Deputies who, in the course of the discussion on the Estimate, intend to press for the provision of shipping space for these commodities to bear in mind that, if their appeals are listened to, it means a curtailment of the supply of bread and the introduction of bread rationing. The total quantity of cargo which can be imported between this and September next is known and fixed, and we cannot displace any wheat for the purpose of carrying other commodities without leaving ourselves short of wheat.
Deputies, therefore, realising the urgent need for many of these industrial commodities, desiring to urge that shipping space should be provided for them must, at the same time, indicate their willingness to contemplate the reintroduction of restrictions upon bread supplies with the inconvenience and hardship which recent experience told us it will cause. In addition to cargoes brought from the United States and Canada by Irish Shipping Limited, the service established under the auspices of the Department of Supplies for the transportation of goods via Lisbon has been maintained during the year. As the House is aware that service was originally organised as a means of securing supplies from the United States but, on the entry of the United States into the war, the service of American ships to Lisbon was prohibited by the American Government. Since then, however, new sources of supply of one kind or another have been opened up and, at the present time, there are substantial quantities of wheat from South America in transit to or consigned to Lisbon which we hope to have transhipped to this country by the smaller ships owned by Irish shipping companies on that service. To date we have imported 46,000 tons of commodities via Lisbon.