Our early attempts to influence outside authorities were all done by letter. Towards the end of the Second World War, we seem to have realised that private meetings with representatives of various organisations and government departments got more done. In the late forties we customarily wrote one letter, and if we didn’t like the response or didn’t get one, we would try to fix an appointment. So when on 4.2.47 we were notified that the supply of steel was being cut by 80%, we wrote to the Ministry of Supply pointing out that fire protection was vital at the present time, and could we send a delegation?

This meeting was successful, and achieved an improvement in the allowance for sheet and other steels for our members – a stepped decrease on current allowance but less severe than the 80%. The problem didn’t end with the war. In February ’52 we have a report of a successful meeting with Ministry of Supply (steel was still rationed, and supplied mainly for export use) where we pointed out that home trade could not be neglected for export trade, due to statutory regulations which compelled the installation of fire extinguishers. A 50% increase of steel allocation was agreed for the next period, and it could be used for home as well as export production.