London, May 23. li CTATORIAL powers were given the Churchill Government last evening when Parliament passed with lightning speed the Emergency Powers (Defence) Bill, providing for industrial conscription—power to draft workers and professional men and women from non-essential jobs to essential jobs for winning the war—as well as power to conscript property (with compensation).
It took the House of Commons and House of Lords only two and a half hours to pass the Bill, which became law immediately afterwards when the Royal Commission signified the Royal Assent (0 the measure.
The Act empowers the Government, through Orders-in-Council, to amend existing laws without further reference to Parliament.
This is identical with' the Continental system of "issuing decrees" and is designed to give the Government the fullest powers to adapt Britain's entire economy to winning the war.
The Lord Frivy Seal, Mr. C. R. Attlee, in driving the Bill through the House of Commons, explained that it was designed to establish the fullest control of manpower, land, banking, war industries, transport, essential services and luxury trades, Reuter's lobby correspondent learns that the plans for Government control of industry are very far-reaching. Labour is not only to be compulsorily transferred to war factories, but to land and coal mines, Control over agriculture will extend to implements,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.