THE LOST TRADES OF BRITAIN.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 3915, 23 October 1899, Page 4

THE LOST TRADES OF BRITAIN.

FROM A FRENCHMAN'S STANDPOINT. A candid and able article 'has been, published; by M. Berard on the trade outlook of Great Britain, more especially in the great manufacturing centres, of what is known as the Black Country. He quotes from numerous Bluebooks, and he points put, not altogether with sorrow, that England has now lost for ever certain branches of trade which were once her undisputed property. To take but one item — namely, cotton. ,' About 1872, over a quarter of a century ago, the ; whole world depended upon Lancashire for its cotton, and for a while the demand was greater than the supply. In one year alone eighty million pounds worth of cotton was exported, Europe taking rather more than half. In those days Free Trade seems to have been more or less universal. Austria was the' first country to bring in a prohibitive tariff, Germany and Russia followed shortly, and France in 1882. Lancashire, not to be beaten, set up factories j in Germany, France, Barcelona and Italy ; but in spite of all this, British trade suffered terribly. In 1892 the German? cotton trade began to make itself felt, and from Hamburg there soon sailed weekly goods offered at half, and sometimes even at one -third, the price still asked by British trades manufacturers. M. Berard has many hard things to say of the selfishness of British trades unions, which he evidently believes have had a disastrous effect on British trade. Apropos of; Lancashire life, he gives some picturesque and curious * details.. While the trade is leaving the Black Country, other countries are becoming more and more prosperous. The Lancashire artisan, or factory hand, whatever bis work, will find upon examination, that all the food ha eats ■is procured from over-sea. Denmark provides him with lard and butter ; France with eggs ; Ireland with bacon. Meanwhile, even India and Japan are beginning to learn that they can make their own cotton ; indeed, ( as early as TBB7 a large factory was opened at Osaka, now called the Japanese Mauchester; The French writer has evidently a great admiration for the town of Manchester, and he declares that the Manchester Guardian is the best daily paper in the world — ' the best-informed, the most impartial, the most honest, and the least fanatic'