I do not know if it is necessary for me to go very much into detail in my reply. I indicated, in the portion of the speech I have already made, that the planning is done by separate Departments. They have been giving their attention to the activities over which they have control with a view to being in a position, when the emergency ends, to get ahead at full speed in so far as supplies will enable them to do so. The plans of the various Departments were indicated, I think, by the Ministers, when they were dealing with their own Estimates.
For example, the Minister for Industry and Commerce pointed out that, from the information which was supplied to him by manufacturing firms, plans for the development and establishment of new and important industries are well advanced. He also told the House that legislation would in due course be submitted for the regulation of industrial development, for industrial efficiency, for assisting industrial expansion generally, and particularly with regard to the possibility of encouraging the growth of export trade in industrial products. He informed the House that building projects for the immediate post-war years had been listed and classified and plans were being prepared to get, internally, the maximum amount of materials possible for constructive work and also to attract apprentices into the building trade. He pointed out that the essential building material likely to offer most trouble was timber and that it probably would be a considerable time before it would be freely available in quantities sufficient to permit the building programme to be carried through.
With regard to the returning emigrants, the position is that if they should be unemployed they will have all the facilities open to other unemployed workers here and by the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1943, their claims will be kept alive for one year after the emergency.
If you turn to the Department of Agriculture, you will find that the Minister there indicated that he had received certain reports which, of course, are public knowledge, in relation to the cattle and dairying industries, poultry production, cattle diseases and veterinary services and he has just now received the final majority and minority reports. He indicated that, when these reports were carefully examined and considered by him, he would be in a position to put proposals before the Government which, in due course, will find their way into a White Paper and, in so far as it is necessary to do so, into legislation.
We heard a great deal about the agricultural situation, and suggestions have been made here from time to time that there has been no real development. The Minister, of course, pointed out that that was not true, that the real output — the volume of the net output—had gone up and was 9.1 per cent. greater than 1938-39, and 10.3 per cent. greater than 1929-30. It is pointed out that if you are thinking simply of gross output, you can increase that by importing considerable quantities of raw material for feeding stuffs, etc. Even without these figures anyone making a calculation can see the increase in acreage and the increase in consumption of agricultural products that must have taken place, taking into account the raw materials needed for human food. In 1932 we had 21,388 acres under wheat. The figures were increased almost more than tenfold, and we had reached in 1938, the year before the war, 230,426 acres. The figures were almost trebled again in 1944, when the acreage was 642,487, an expansion to about 30 times the figure for 1932.
Of course it was because of that expansion that we had not to ration bread in this country. Similarly in the case of beet the acreage expanded from 13,686 acres in 1932 to 51,181 acres in 1938, and in 1944 reached 81,824 acres. That is, production expanded six-fold over the figure for 1932. In various ways the question of consumption of foodstuffs and agricultural produce at home was raised. It is only necessary to call attention to the fact that the amount of butter consumed here in 1937-38 was only 426,101 cwts., whereas in 1942-43 it had gone up to 595,910 cwts. In 1944-45, the figures were 578,978 cwts. That shows a considerable expansion in the consumption of butter at home. Similarly cheese increased from 21,000 cwts. to 50,000 cwts. Eggs increased by about 40 per cent. in five years.
