SAFEGUARDING

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 72, 18 December 1928, Page 11

SAFEGUARDING

BRITISH TEXTILE INDUSTRY UNIONS JOIN EMPLOYERS IN APPLICATION REASONS EXPLAINED (United Press Association; —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright.) (Australiau Press Assn. —United Service.) (Rec., December 17, 11.45 p.m.) London, December 17. The National Association of Unions of the Textile Trade have issued a report as to the reasons they have joined the employers In the application under safeguarding. They say: “We think it unreasonable to expect British workmen to be martyrs of the free trade principle. . Seventeen per cent, of the workers in the woollen and worsted industry are wholly or partially unemployed. The unions had to face the problem or allow the industry to languish. We started out convinced free traders but realised that the world’s conditions are constantly changing. To make a fetish of a belief was wrong. During the war a large percentage of our textile machinery was used to make khaki. Other nations were thus compelled to produce their own textiles. We feel inclined to ask other nations whether they a iso believe that freetrade is the only honest trade. If so, why don’t they co-operate in the abolition of tariffs. The estimated net imports for the year exceed forty million square yards, of which thirty millions would be excluded under safeguarding. We submit that while safeguarding is not the ultimate remedy, it will materially relieve unemployment.”