INFLOW OF CHEAP GOODS

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 179, 23 April 1924, Page 6

INFLOW OF CHEAP GOODS

ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND SUFFERING FROM FOREIGN COMPETITION AUSTRALIAN’S IMPRESSIONS The economic conditions in Great Britain are still far from satisfactory. The country is suffering from an inflow of cheap goods from other nations, particularly Belgium, Germany, and France. The unemployment dole is still bc u ing continued, and is having an unhealthy effect upon the people. Such were the views expressed yesterday bv Mr. H. W. Berry, a prominent Melbourne business man who has just returned from a twelve months’ visit to Great Britain and the Continent. Mr. Berry, who is governing director of Henry Berry and Co (Australia) Ltd. and Henry Berry and Co. New Zealand, arrived here by the Maheno on Alonday. Questioned by a Dominion reporter yesterday as to how he found conditions in England, Mr Berry stated that they were still far from satisfactory. Over £50,(M0,000 was still being paid out each vear in unemployment doles by the British Government, and this was having an unhealthy effect, as many people were ix>t eager to work so long as they could live without doing anything. It was only natural, under the circumstances, that England had a strong desire to increase employment and exports. Dumping of Cheap Foreign Goods. Owing to the exchange difficulties, he said, Great Britain was suffering from competition with the cheaper goods of other nations. Some of the English woollen manufacturers, he had been told, were selling goods made up in France. There was no protection against this. AA’ith the low rate of exchange, these gpods were costing English traders very much less than English-made goods. The delay and uncertainty concerning the measure of preference agreed to at the recent Economic Conference were also adversely affecting business in the Old Country. “The Labour Government at Home, said Afr. Berry, “may ratify some of the preference agreements come to at the Economic Conference. I am of opinion that though preference has not been given as we hoped it would be for the general good of the Empire as a whole, it is bound to come. The free traders die very hard, but what is the good of living if you can’t buy the cheap goods vou see in the shop windows through lack of employment? How Australia is Affected. Air. Berry stated that Australia had given preference to English goods but when the Commonwealth had asked that preference should be extended to dried fruits from Australia, as against importations from Turkey and Greece, this had been refused. “Whv should we give Australia preference?” Ono Englishman had asked: “What has Australia done for uS?” Had it not been for the preference shown to British goods, Mr. Berry stated, Australia would have collected £25,000.000 additional duty within the last three years for goods which had come into the Commonwealth. Australia was anxious to show preference to Great Britain. They were quite ready and willing to absorb a share of Britain’s surplus population, but what, he asked, was the use of bringing out Englishmen to grow fruit in Australia, if England would not give that fruit preference over that grown by enemy countries like Turkey and Greece? There, should, he thought, be some give and take between the component parts of the Empire. . Britain, he declared, was in the grip of trade’s unionism. . No one could take exception to this if shorter hours and increased pay meant better efficiency, but, unfortunately, there were signs that the modern idea was to do as little work as possible for the wages received. France at Work. Afr Berry found that a different state of affairs existed across the Channel. He had visited the war areas in the East and North of France. Having been there in the summer of 1919, he was greatly astonished to find the vast amount of work which bad been done in rebuilding towns, factories, and farm houses and outbuildings. Three-fifths of this work of restoration had been completed. French farmers were now living in houses superior to anything they previously possessed. The farm houses wore of brick with galvanised iron or tile roofing. The country districts of Franco had never been more prosperous than' they were to-day. The trenches and shell-holes of the battlefields had all been filled up, and the ground regraded and ploughed. The soil had had a good rest during the war years, and. as a consequence was producing Tirolifically. There did not appear to he an inch of Northern France which was not cultivated. The recovery was most marked. and everybody was working. “They are really working,” he said, “and have not even time to look up whan a motor car comes along. Afen and women are hard at work, and they keep at it. on Sundays as well as everv week day.” He had been informed that 10,000 artisans had been brought over from Poland to assist in rebuilding the towns and farm houses, in order to leave the French peonle free to restore the farm lands. Afr. and Airs. Berry have come across on a visit to their son. Afr. R. A. Berry, of Wellington. _ They are accompanied by some English friends, and intend seeing something of the beauty spots of New Zealand before returning to Afelbourne.