ECONOMY OF BRITAIN

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28700, 25 September 1958, Page 18

ECONOMY OF BRITAIN

“Amazing Recent Progress’’

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, Sept. 24. Britain’s economic and industrial stability and the unity of the Commonwealth are making an immense contribution to present-day civilisation, according to the United Kingdom High Commissioner (Sir George Mallaby) in an address to the United Kingdom Manufacturers” Association luncheon in Wellington today

“The political pattern of the Commonwealth is changing, and is changing continuously,” he said. “It is the greatest constitutional experiment in the whole of history. “The old five—the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia. New Zealand, and South Africa—have grown to 10 by the inclusion of India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Ghana and Malaya, and will shortly add three more.”

Speaking about Britain’s amazing industrial progress in recent' years, Sir George Mallaby said, “What is not perhaps generally recognised is that we—the United Kingdom—are generally in surplus of our transactions. We have been in surplus for seven of the last nine years, arid for the whole nine years the average result was an annual surplus of £lOO million. During the years 1953-57. Britain had invested £lOOO million—some Government, and some, private capital—in other countries of the Commonwealth. The figures represented 70 per cent, of the, total investment in these coun- j tries. “It seems to me we do not get. enough publicity for this effort,” he said. “It is always the other fellow’s investment which attracts the praise and gratitude, and leads people to say, quite erroneously, as my figures show, that we have lost interest in the Commonwealth and we have not the confidence' to invest in it. That is just plain nonsense.”

Sir George Mallaby spoke in defence of the British workman “The time lost through strikes in Britain is about one-tenth of that lost through industrial accidents, and about a hundredth of that lost through sickness. Only the Netherlands, Sweden, and West Germany have better records on strikes than we have,” he said. “Production per man employed in . manufacturing increased by about a quarter between 1948 and 1956 and output of farm workers went up by two-fifths. “Average hours per week in manufacturing have increased from 44.9 in 1948 to 45.9 in 1957 In fact we are now working longer hours than most industrial countries—nearly seven hours longer than Americans, and now even a little longer than the West Germans.”