BLOW TO LANCASHIRE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 3, 5 January 1937, Page 7

BLOW TO LANCASHIRE.

JAP.-AUSTRALIA TREATY. LONDON, January 1. Though at first they greeted the trade agreement between Australia and Japan in an "It might have been worse" spirit, Lancashire manufacturers, after further consideration, declare that it will be a severe blow to them. They are considering the possibility of making representations to the Commonwealth through the President of the Board of Trade, Mr. Bunciman, and the Secretary of the Dominions, Mr. Malcolm Mac Donald. Sir Ernest Thompson, the leader of the recent mission to Australia, said: "I was surprised at Lancashire's earlier viewpoint that the pact would not do us much harm. There is a large difference between a duty of fourpence on Japanese rayon entering Australia after the New Year compared with ninepence in the old year. Lancashire's trade with the Commonwealth is bound to suffer." A leading Manchester shipper to Australia said: "The pact is a staggering blow to Lancashire and will cost my firm thousands of pounds. Large stocks have been specially prepared in Lancashire for the Australian trade, but the preferential duty of 2Jd under the new agreement will not protect us against Japan, which can produce real silk goods cheaper than we ean make artificial silk. We are Australia's best customers, but are denied Japan's advantage of a guaranteed quota of textiles entering *the Commonwealth. It is time that that British negotiators of trade pacts adopted Japanese methods."