I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £175,405 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, 1945, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí Oifig an Aire Tionnscail agus Tráchtála maraon le Seirbhisí áirithe a riartar ag an Oifig sin.
That a sum not exceeding £175,405 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending the 31st day of March, 1945, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Industry and Commerce, including certain services administered by that Office.
As Deputies are aware, the normal functions of the Department of Industry and Commerce relate to the stimulation and supervision of industrial development, the facilitation of commercial activities and the control of the conduct of internal and external trade, together with the administration of various statutes affecting industry, commerce, transport and certain social services. Since the outbreak of war, many of the functions of the Department have been suspended in large measure, particularly those which related to the promotion of industrial development and the encouragement of certain commercial activities. On that account the debate on this Estimate is likely to be less contentious than it has been on occasions in the past.
The main activities of the Department at the present time are concerned with various aspects of the wartime control of materials, particularly of materials used in industrial processes and later, to a lesser extent, but nevertheless to an important extent, with activities which can properly be described as post-war planning. Some Deputies, particularly those who have not previously participated in Dáil Debates on this Department, may have difficulty in determining the line of demarcation between the functions of the Department of Industry and Commerce and the Department of Supplies. I can easily understand the difficulty, because there is a degree of overlapping between the activities of the two Departments. It was because such overlapping was unavoidable that the Taoiseach decided upon the device of having one Minister in charge of both Departments and this eliminated unnecessary inter-departmental discussions. Broadly speaking, it can be said the Department of Supplies is responsible, apart from its main function of securing supplies abroad, for the regulation of the distribution and use of consumers' goods, whereas the Department of Industry and Commerce controls the distribution and use of industrial raw materials, such things as explosives, cement, paint, metals, timber, paper and the like.
Deputies may desire that I should give them an indication, which must necessarily be a brief indication, of the position concerning the more important of these industrial raw materials, the distribution of which is controlled by the Department of Industry and Commerce. I emphasise the word distribution, because the problem of securing increased supplies of these materials where they have to come from abroad is the function of the Department of Supplies. In the case of explosives, upon the supply of which a number of important industrial processes depend, we have been working for some time past upon approximately one-third of the quantity normally required. There are certain export industries which receive a special allocation of explosives from the British authorities, but in the main the industries which we carry on here, the collieries, the slate quarries, the cement industry and others, which require explosives in the conduct of their operations, have been getting allocations which were rarely, if ever, more than one-third of what they would normally require. A very high proportion of the total quantity of explosives imported in the past was used by local authorities either in connection with public works or relief schemes, or by Government Departments in a similar connection. We decided as a matter of policy that the minimum requirements of industries should be met out of the available supply, and that the curtailments should be more drastic in the case of public authorities and Government Departments so as to ensure that the industrial processes would be carried on, even though we recognised that the curtailment of supplies of explosives to the public departments and to public authorities would necessarily restrict very considerably the ability of these bodies to undertake relief schemes which were an important source of employment, particularly in rural areas during the slack seasons in agriculture.
As regards cement, we had a very loose system of control in operation until quite recently. That system really only attempted to regulate the purchase of cement by large-scale consumers. The average individual requiring five tons or less would not need to have a permit. In fact, the system of control was nothing more than nominal. It had been more severe in the past during the time of the scarcity but, with the passage of the scarcity, the control was maintained, even though it was not essential. With the cessation of cement production, to which I referred yesterday, because of fuel and other difficulties, we have, within the last few days, decided that it is necessary to tighten up very considerably the control of the purchase of cement. As announced in the Press, all existing permits for the purchase of cement have been cancelled and those persons who had permits will be required to apply again—those people who require cement for works of importance—and all cement dealers will require to be registered. That rigid control over the purchase of cement, and the confining of the use of cement to important purposes, will have to be maintained so long as the present fuel difficulties necessitate a limitation of cement production.
Deputies representing agricultural areas will be particularly interested in the position concerning the production of steel bars and rods from which horse shoe iron is provided and which is required in substantial volume for the production and repair of agricultural machinery, as well as for the manufacture of wire nails and other essential industrial goods. The House is, I think, aware of the fact that a mill for the rolling of steel rods was established in this country prior to the outbreak of the war, but the difficulties of procuring machinery, arising out of the war, prevented its completion, with the result that the mill was never put into the condition in which it could manufacture steel rods, utilising scrap metal. During last year we succeeded in procuring for that mill a limited tonnage of imported steel billets which were rolled by the mill into rods and distributed for the manufacture of horse shoes, agricultural machinery and certain other essential purposes. The supplies were very limited and, because they were limited, the price at which the steel could be made available was extraordinarily high. This year we have been fortunate in being able to make arrangements for a larger quantity of billets than could be procured last year. The result is that there will be a greater supply of rods for horse shoe iron, for agricultural machinery manufacturers and other industrial users, and the price has been substantially reduced.
When I spoke last year I held out hopes that we would be able to procure the balance of the equipment required to put the mill in a position to use scrap metal. These hopes have not been realised. There is a considerable number of refractory bricks still required to complete the furnaces. All efforts to procure the bricks in Great Britain have failed. Efforts are now being made to procure them on the other side of the Atlantic, where there appears to be a better prospect of obtaining them, even though they may cost more. I am still optimistic that it will be possible in the course of the year to secure delivery of the requisite bricks to complete the furnaces. If the furnaces could be completed, then the considerable supplies of scrap steel available in the country could be utilised and, to a substantial degree, our steel problems would be met. There will be certain fuel problems still to be encountered.
In respect of cast iron, we have been able to keep the foundries going up to recently. Efforts were made to organise the collection of scrap cast iron, which were more or less successful, even though substantial difficulties were encountered. Quite recently we have experienced new difficulties in procuring pig iron without which the scrap cast iron cannot be utilised, and these difficulties, unless they can be resolved, may have serious consequences on foundry operations. I cannot say what the prospects are of procuring additional supplies now available are being confined to the production of goods which are classified as essential.
During the course of the year many Deputies pressed me for permits to enable constituents to purchase timber. Our position concerning timber is that no supplies have come from abroad for the last three years, and there is no prospect of securing supplies from abroad until the war is over. The quantity of timber which we have to last us until the war is over is known; it can be estimated with some degree of accuracy, and we can decide how we are going to use it upon various assumptions. In the year 1942 I came to the Dáil and told them of that position. I told them that I then estimated that the war might last for two years and that I proposed to issue permits for the purchase of timber so as to spread the available supplies over a two-year period. These two years are now over and we still have some supplies of timber left because long ago we decided that our estimate as to the duration of the war in 1942 was unduly optimistic and that these available supplies, which could not in any way be expanded, would have to be spread over a longer period. We still have supplies of timber and permits for the purchase of timber are issued only where it is required for the construction of buildings or other works which are deemed to be of national rather than of personal importance. We, of course, arrange for the supply of timber to keep existing buildings in repair or for some industrial processes, but Deputies will have to understand why it is that a great many of the applications for permits to purchase timber have to be refused. Unlike other industrial products where there is a prospect of obtaining additional supplies or of expanding home production, the supply of timber, either cut or standing, can be estimated with accuracy, and there is no possibility whatever of expanding it. We have to make that supply last until some time after the war is over. There are urgent uses for timber arising from time to time and we should not allow ourselves to reach a position where necessary works could not be undertaken because we had improvidently used up the whole of our timber stocks.
There is one other industrial product of major importance that I should like to refer to, and that is paper. Normally in this country we used about 65,000 tons of paper every year, and of that quantity we produced at home in paper mills situated here about 12,000 tons. There are many Deputies who have spoken on the difficulties concerning paper in the past, and others who have commented in public on the subject who appear to have a very false conception about the pre-war relationship between paper imports and paper production. We produced only 12,000 tons and, by various devices, some of which were the result of extraordinary ingenuity, our paper manufacturers have, despite all the difficulties—and included in the difficulties was the fact that they made paper pre-war very largely from imported materials—the home production of paper has been increased, at any rate until recently, by about 12 per cent.
What effect the existing fuel problems will have upon paper production it is difficult to say but most of the larger paper mills have long since made the necessary arrangements to utilise turf instead of coal for power purposes. Our imports of paper from abroad which, in pre-war years, totalled about 53,000 tons, are now around 10,000 tons. In other words, they have been cut to one-fifth of what they would normally be. That substantial contraction in the imports of paper has necessitated the making of a series of Orders designed to restrict the use of paper for various purposes, to prohibit its use for other purposes and generally to regulate the allocation of the available supplies amongst the various users of paper. One of the most difficult problems that arose in that connection was the allocation of newsprint to the daily and weekly newspapers. Despite the strenuous efforts which I made and which the officers of my Department have always made to endeavour to ensure that there was equitable treatment of all users of newsprint, needless to remark, because there are political considerations which arise there, we have not infrequently been accused of showing preference to one newspaper as against another. However, we did succeed in relation to the daily newspapers in getting an agreed basis of allocation and, subject to various vicissitudes, that agreement has more or less persisted and is at present being used as the guide in determining the allocation of newsprint supplies to the newspapers. The prospects in relation to paper are not too bright. We were in the past able to get certain supplies of newsprint from Sweden transported to Portugal, and shipped from Portugal to this country. There are substantial quantities of paper on order in Sweden which we had intended to bring in by the same route. Whether it will be possible to do so or not, I cannot say. It is possible to obtain supplies still in Canada but shipping difficulties limit the amount we can take.
There are other industrial raw materials which are also controlled by Orders administered by the Department of Industry and Commerce but concerning which I have no comment to make—such materials as linseed oil, asbestos cement, creosote, molasses, sacks and bags, ropes and cordages. I should say, concerning sacks and bags, that on an earlier occasion I expressed the view that one of the most acute problems of distribution which would arise here during the war would be occasioned by the scarcity of sacks, bags and other containers. Arising out of that fear, we took a number of measures to try, not merely to preserve the existing sacks, bags and other containers, but also to secure their prompt return to the firms requiring them for the packing of goods. I do not say that our arrangements in that regard have always worked as smoothly as we wished and although we imposed substantial financial penalties on persons who delayed the return of sacks, bags and other containers, there is still considerable reluctance on the part of some traders and other users to meet the requirements of the Department in that regard. However, it can be said that the very acute problem which we visualised here at an earlier time has not materialised, because of the arrangements which were made in that connection.
I presume it is intended, in accordance with the usual practice, that all the Votes of the Department will be discussed together, including the Vote for Unemployment Insurance and Unemployment Assistance. In connection with the unemployment position, I should like to refer Deputies to the reports which have been published from time to time by the Inter-Departmental Committee which watches the trends of employment and unemployment.
A number of years ago I considered it desirable that the maximum amount of information concerning the employment and the unemployment positions should be available to Deputies and to the public. I, therefore, set up a committee to watch the trend in that regard and the reports of the committee have been regularly published. The most recent report, which covers the situation in 1943, is now available. The report shows that during that year the volume of unemployment continued its downward trend. It is, of course, quite true that emigration during the past two years has been the main cause of that downward trend in the number of persons registered as unemployed. The number of persons who emigrated in 1943, was, however, considerably less than the number who emigrated in 1942. The approximate average number of persons employed during 1943 in employments which are insurable under the Unemployment Insurance Acts was 3,000 less than in 1942. That, I think, is a fair measure of the extent to which the emergency conditions have reduced the employment available in industrial occupations. There was in that year a considerable increase in the employment available in agriculture and in turf production, but the increase in employment in these occupations was more than offset by decreases in other employments.
