The Dominion THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1932. DENMARK IN THE THROES

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 16, 13 October 1932, Page 8

The Dominion THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1932. DENMARK IN THE THROES

One of the cheering signs of the opening up of a new prospect for British trade was the report published yesterday of the great succeswhich has attended the British Trade Exhibition held at Copenhagen It is stated that contracts have been signed for the delivery to Denmark of British goods to the value of £1,000,000 and that Great Bntams share of Danish imports during the past eight months has risen from 124- to 25 per cent, compared with 1931. Denmark was one of the first of the foreign countries to evince a willingness to adjust itself to the new trade conditions created by Britain’s adoption of protection with Imperial preference. For well over a quarter of a century that nation has been on intimate commercial terms with Britain, which in 1931 took from 67 to 70 per cent, of all Danish exports. On the other hand Denmark has recently put into force foreign import control regulations designed to maintain imports from Britain at as high a level as possible. The Danish people.” observed The Times in recent comment on the subject, seem determined to overcome the difficulties created for them by the new Ottawa duties, and a new trade treaty will no doubt be negotiated at the earliest opportune moment.” . , • To appreciate fully what this means to the Danish people it is necessarv to realise that Denmark at the present moment is in the throes of a desperate economic crisis. According to Mr. b, ii. Bailey, writing in The New Statesman, “ruin is in sight.” It is to be hoped that things are not quite so bad as that, though they are bad enough in all conscience. For example, the total agricultural net income, says Mr. Bailey, has declined from 565 million kroner in 1929-30 to 270 million in 1930-31, or by more than half. This, in British terms, means a drop of about £17,000,000. and worse is expected from the returns for 1931-32. Between May, 1931, and May, 193_, bankruptcies, compulsory liquidations of real estate, and of agricultural property, increased by over 50 per cent. It is at first difficult to understand how a country so well organised for production and marketing, so industrious, and so generally efficient as is Denmark, should have been so hard hit. It is true, of course, that no single country in the world has escaped, but it might have been imagined that Denmark would have been better able to withstand the shock. Mr. Bailey points out that the situation can be attributed almost entirely to two factors: the wave of economic nationalism that has surged over most countries, especially since 1929, and the decline in purchasing power in Britain and Germany. Since Germany’s adoption of a policy of agricultural protection her markets have been practically closed to Denmark. On the British side, increased production in New Zealand of the same class of expoit products, the “Buy British” campaign, and the British Import Duties Act of March last have had their effect upon the Danish export trade, with the result that the wholesale prices of butter, bacon, and live or slaughtered cattle have been depressed to a point which either yields no profit or entails an actual loss. The position of the Danish farmer is comparable to that of his New Zealand opposite number. Closed markets and falling prices are no longer off-set by cheap imports of fertilisers and stock foods, while on top of that arc heavy fixed mortgage charges incurred during the period of high prices and bounding prosperity. There is a saying that a fellow-feeling makes us wondrous kind. At any rate there should be room for Denmark in a well-ordered British food supply system, and in view of the marked preference being shown by the Danish people to British imports, this aspect of the trade situation between the two countries will no doubt receive consideration in treaty negotiations.

As Mr. Bailey says, “All circles in Denmark have agreed that the welfare of the Danish people is bound up with the maintenance of the connection with Great Britain.” And to agreement the Danes are adding practical action in an effort to even up the trading account between themselves and the British.