POSITION IMPROVING

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 74, 20 December 1929, Page 9

POSITION IMPROVING

BRITISH TRADE A CREDITABLE GAIN “It is true that Great Britain is not back to pre-war conditions, but there is no reason to be despondent. Since 1924 there has been a steady increase in our export trade, and to-day we are nine per cent, in volume over what we were five years ago,” stated Mr. L. A. Paish, 0.8. E., His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner in New Zealand, in the course of an address to the New Zealand Club yesterday.

“As regards New Zealand,” he said, “we take some 74 per cent, of the entire exports of this country. That figure is gradually decreasing, but the decrease is more apparent than real, and I think that in Great Britain we are consuming as much of your exports as we ever were.”

Production of Foodstuffs.

Mr. Paish said a fact rather lost sight of abroad was that Great Britain was a very great agricultural country, and produced large quantities of its own foodstuffs, namely, half of the beef, mutton, lamb and eggs the people consumed. In spite of that, the country was extremely short in some lines, and had to import large quantities of food-stuffs; it produced only about one-seventh of the butter it consumed, one-fifth of its cheese, and one-quarter of its pork and ham. In addition, raw materials for industrial purposes were imported. All those imports had to be paid for by exports, both visible and invisible. For the year ended September 30 last Great Britain imported foodstuffs to the value of 506 million pounds, raw materials to the value of 278 million pounds, and manufactured goods and miscellaneous to the value of 311 million pounds—a total of 1095 million pounds. During the same period exports totalled 732 million pounds, leaving an adverse trade balance of 363 million pounds. However, invisible exports were responsible for .500 million pounds, which left a favourable trade balance of 137 million pounds. The speaker said the reason for unemployment in England was due to the fact that the Old Country had not recovered the position she held in trade before the war, her trade being onesixth less than it was in pre-war days. That, however, was not the fault of the British trading community, and good progress had been made. The position had to be faced, and Britain had to get back to her former position ; It would be a hard fight, but it was highly creditable that she had reached the position she now occupied.