EMPIRE FACTORIES

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 1, 27 September 1943, Page 5

EMPIRE FACTORIES

British Export Position

LONDON, September 24. Reflecting hopes of the approach of peace, City circles are showing increased appreciation of the possible peacetime opportunities for Britain’s export trade and the increased industrialization of the Dominions,.says the AssociatedPress. ... ' The closer the armistice approaches the more British industrial and finan- i cial circles become aware of the impact of the development that has been encouraged during the war in other parts of the Empire. There is grave uneasiness regarding the post-war absorptive capacity of the Dominions for British industrial products. The feeling prevails that in the immediate postwar years satisfaction of arrears of civilian demands for consumer goods will keep many British factories fully employed. On the other hand, there is a fear that former markets in the Dominions will no longer exist in their pre-war dimensions owing to the accelerated development of local industries during the war. Many acute observers discern in this apparent conflict between Empire and home manufacturing industries a source of potentially grievous misunderstanding unless it is faced in time. There is now a far,greater drive by the Dominions to establish a more balanced economy, While the City, as the financial centre, deprecates any concessions to what previously was termed economic nationalism, it is realized in even the most orthodox circles that the increased industrialization o£ Australia ami New ' Zealand is a fact to be faced, if gerha ps welcomed.