The Speed-up in Demobilisation
Mr. Isaacs, the Minister of Labour, has redeemed his promise on behalf of the Government to arrange for the speeding-up of the whole procedure of demobilisation ; the revised plan which he has now revealed will go far to allay the growing discontent of service- men and the anxieties of industrialists about the slow release of labour. It provides that by the end of the year a total of about
7,500,030 men and women will have been demobilised, and more than 3,o00,00o by the end of June. This will leave 2,094,100 men and
138,700 women in the Navy, Army and Air Force. The acceleration is to be effected without abandoning the fundamental principle based on age and length of service. Men and women who arc to be
released for special reasons out of their turn will be limited to to per cent. of all the releases, men who arc thus freed being subject to control only till the date when they would have been normally de- mobilised, or after six months (whichever period is the longer) The authorities have now been able to make estimates of the numbers of men they will need for military purposes, and in consequence the only limiting factor in the rate of release is transport, which will have to be pressed into the service to the utmost capacity of ships and aeroplanes. The prospective availability of jobs does not enter into the question, for the Minister is convinced that there will be employment for all demobilised men and women, except that in certain localities there will be small pockets of unemployment where industries may be restarting civilian production. In the country as a whole the crying need will be for labour to get the factories into full swing, and it will be long before there are as many men as jobs waiting. The process of demobilisation will still be a long one, but there is now every reason to be satisfied that it will be pushed forward as rapidly as is humanly possible ; and we have the Minister's positive assurance that the scheme will be carried out according to schedule.
