The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954)(about) |
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Monday 18 January 1943
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VITAL JOB
Planning Post-War
Australia
MELBOURNE, Sunday.-The vital job of planning post-war Australia has been put in the hands of a bril- liant young administrator, 36*year old Herbert C. Coombs, doctor of philosophy in economics (London
University).
From being a school teacher, he gained notice as an economist, and after serving with the Common- wealth Treasury, was appointed Dir- ector of Rationing, and a member of the Commonwealth Bank Bd. Last week he became Director-General of Post-war Reconstruction. *
He told interviewers. that he be- lieves world economics is now at the crossroads and that if the world was not prepared to direct social change it must face the consequences of in- stinctive social upheaval. \
He declined to discuss, his ideas on reconstruction, but indicated that he would make every effort to en- sure that the waste of unemploy- ment was prevented. Public works naturally would be an important aspect of post-war activity, he said.
He said his department would re- quire the whole of existing govern- mental machinery to put schemes into operation. The primary func- tion of his department would be planning and co-ordinating. / .