INDUSTRIAL BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 11, 8 October 1923, Page 6

INDUSTRIAL BRITAIN

OUTLOOK NOT PROMISING MARKETING NEW ZEALAND PRODUCTS MEAT CHAIRMAN’S IMPRESSIONS While London, as a commercial centre, has every appearance of being prosperous, the industrial outlook in Britain is almost as poor as during the period of the slump, says the chairman of the Patea Meat Freezing company, who returned bv the Tainui on Saturday night, having revisited Creat Britain after a lapse of two years.

Mr. Charles D. Dickie, chairman of the Patea Meat Freezing Company, who was also a member of the Taranaki Soldier .Settlement Inquiry Board, gave some interesting impressions of his recent tour of Great Britain)and Canada to a representative of The Dominion yesterday. Comparing the conditions of Britain to-dav with what he experienced when he was Home two vears ago, Mr. Dickie was not in an optimistic mood. Thera was. he said, great distress in the industrial .centres, particularly on the Glvdo where the shipbuilding industry was paralysed. Large numbers of people were migrating from Glasgow for America and the British Dominions overseas. Although the aggregate number of unemployed had fallen, to a million and a quarter, yet the winter was coming on. and he- felt that it would be difficult to keep the figures even as low as that. German goods were, he said, being dumped into Britain at a great rate. The prices were ridiculously low; the chief items of German imports were cutlery hardware and china. Von would' buv pocket-knives in the London shops for Id. to 6d. Binoculars with the best type, of lens were being sold at such low prices as to make people think the lenses were not genuine. The lenses had been sent to England, where the binoculars .were being remade and sold as English. “The same systems of marketing New Zealand produce are in vogue as when 1 was Home before.” he said 1 . “Thev are still more or less haphazard. It seems to me that the best means to stabilise the market, as far as our products Lre concerned, would be for the, Imperial Government to adopt the same policy as thev do in regard to meat —that is, to insist on being advised of the amount of butter and cheese in store. At present, they have onlv a record of what is landed, not what is stored or goes into consumption. If thev had those statistics. it would prevent the periodic gluts in the market. To mv mind, ifwould be better controlled at this end, where storage is cheaper. The outlook for mutton and lamb is quite sound, but the beef market depends entirely on the supplies from the Argentine. A lot of New Zealand beef was sent to Glasgow while I was in Scotland, but the impression I gained there was that tho people did l not have the monev to buv it. Our dairy products continue to be well spoken of everywhere. A good quantity of cur butter is used for blending, and sold as blended butter.

“Evervwhere I went ; I heard pccplej savins- thev were anxious to cc-me to Now Zealand. They were of a very fine rural tvne. such as the immigrants who travelled with us on the Tainui. I am wonderirur whether the best meanß are being employed to secure them. I have learned of the agreement between the British and New Zealand Governments, but I still think a good deal of proper organising requires to be done, especially from this

Mr Dickie also visited Canada, where he found tho. farmers were not bv any mean* nrecrK-rnns. The present harvest promised well. but. even allowing for it. he did not .think they would fullv weather the liabilities they met through the past bad season. The economic conditions of the farmers in the far west of Canada was very low. It was not in his opinion, a good place for immigrants. Many of the people that went there did so for the purpose of making a few pounds and getting back Home again. It was refreshing to consider the condition of the New Zealand farmers bv comparison. New Zealand butter and cheese were in high favour throughout Canada. Asked what impression he gathered! at Home in regard to the Dairy Control Act. Mr. Dickie said he had not seen the new Act. and was interested to learn that the poll was being taken. He said that the men he had met in Toolev Street were not by any means antagonistic to it. but were very favourably disposed towards the profitable marketing of New Zealand’s dairy produce in Great Britain. Thev expected that for a long time to come the produce would be marketed through .the old channels. He expressed the opinion. however, that, in the selection of the board —if the suppliers voted for the Act to come into operation—it would bo very wise to choose men who had a close knowledge of the conditions under which dairy products were put on the market at Home. Mr. Dickie will remain in Wellington to-dav. and leave for his homo tomorrow.\