: I move:—
Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £6,583 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, 1941, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí Oifig an Aire Soláthairtí.
That a sum not exceeding £6,583 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, 1941, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Minister for Supplies.
It is only some weeks since the Dáil discussed at some length the Estimate for the previous year for the Department of Supplies. When moving that Vote, I referred to the special features in the organisation of the Department which are indicated in the Book of Estimates and to which, I presume, it is not necessary to refer again. I stated then that the main functions of the Department of Supplies are to endeavour to secure the maintenance of essential supplies, to regulate the distribution of commodities which are in short supply or where there is any reason to anticipate a shortage, and to control the prices to be charged for commodities. For the discharge of these functions the Department has been organised on the basis of two divisions, one dealing with the supply of essential commodities and the other dealing with questions of distribution and the control of prices.
In connection with the maintenance of supplies, action has been taken by way of administrative arrangements with various British Government Departments with the object of reducing to a minimum the interference with the flow of goods which would be caused otherwise owing to the operation of the licensing system introduced in the United Kingdom, which is the main source or channel of supply of a wide range of essential commodities required in this country. Moreover, in cases in which the licensing system has been applied, steps have been taken administratively to secure that licences will be issued for the release of goods to this country, and, in some cases, those steps have been successful.
Positive measures to maintain supplies have been taken by the control of exports and, in certain cases, by control over imports. One of the principal objects of the control over exports is to ensure that raw materials grown or produced in this country will be reserved, in the first instance, for home manufacturers or producers. In the case of a few commodities which were imported from abroad, and which it was anticipated would be in short supply, it was considered necessary to make special arrangements to facilitate the purchase abroad of the goods concerned and their shipment to this country. Those arrangements took the form of organising importers and the formation of special non-profit-making companies to whom the arrangements for purchase and shipment have been entrusted. To enable those companies to function properly, imports of the goods with which they were concerned have been prohibited save under licence, and it has been arranged that, ordinarily, licence to import will be granted only to the special companies which have been formed for that purpose. Those arrangements have so far been applied in respect of grain, animal feeding stuffs, and timber.
It is obviously desirable so far as possible to ensure that there will be an equitable distribution amongst consumers of any essential commodity of which the supply may be short, and, where necessary, special arrangements to achieve that object are being made and will be made. The position in that regard, however, is the same as on the previous occasion on which the Dáil discussed matters of supply; that is to say, it has only been found necessary yet to institute a system of rationing in relation to one commodity —petrol.
In the months since the outbreak of hostilities the general position concerning supplies has been one of relative ease. A number of factors contributed to that end, and of these not the least important was the Emergency Supplies Branch of the Department of Industry and Commerce. That branch, which was set up in September, 1938, had the special duty of preparing plans for coping with the problems which would arise under emergency conditions in relation to the maintenance and distribution of essential supplies.
A complete survey of requirements was made, and industrialists and traders were urged to increase their stocks to the utmost practicable limits. The extra stocks which were accumulated as a result of these activities were particularly valuable in relieving the difficulties caused by the dislocation in supplies, which resulted from the first impact of war. Their value did not, however, extend to the initial stage, and in more recent times these stocks have, in many cases, helped substantially in enabling the demand for various kinds of goods to be met satisfactorily.
The stocks are not yet exhausted, but there are signs that the margins they have helped to fill will, in the case of some industrial raw material—and I mention particularly iron and steel— become wider, because of the increasing difficulties that are being found in obtaining fresh supplies. Generally speaking, the experience in the period since the war began affords no true guide as to the future position in regard to essential supplies, and I think it is very desirable to emphasise that fact both in this House and outside it. We may expect that there will be shortages, some of which will be likely to continue in existence for the entire duration of the war. The difficulties will grow as the field of combatant activity extends, and, while every effort will be made to meet them, it has to be anticipated that they will not be entirely overcome.
Many commodities are not now on tap, as ordinarily they are in times of peace, and if the supply difficulties inseparable from war conditions are to be tackled with any hope of their being successfully alleviated, it is essential that programmes of future requirements should be prepared. That advanced planning must cover the longest possible period ahead, and it requires that there should be the most complete co-operation with the Department of Supplies by producers, wholesalers and other importers in estimating requirements. As the Dáil is aware, an Order was made under the Emergency Powers Act, called the Control of Exports Order, the primary purpose of which was to regulate the outward flow of goods either of home or foreign production, so as to reserve an adequate proportion of the available supplies to meet home demands. Under that Order the export of certain commodities was prohibited, save under licence. A list of these commodities was published in the Press. There have since been amendments by way of additions or withdrawals, and these amendments have also been published from time to time.
In some cases special measures have had to be taken to overcome the difficulties of administering the Control of Exports Order, arising from the absence of any characteristic feature by which prohibited goods could be readily identified from licensed goods of the same general description when offered for export at a port or land frontier station. In the case of raw wool, it is necessary to reserve only certain grades and qualities for the home manufacture of woollens and worsteds. Those merchants and wool exporting merchants have been consulted, and an arrangement was made which worked successfully during the first six months of the war, in restricting exports of the kinds of homegrown wool required by manufacturers in this country. There is now under consideration a scheme for the sale of our entire exportable surplus of wool to the United Kingdom Wool Control.