TRADE NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CIII, Issue 56, 8 March 1922, Page 4

TRADE NOTES

A DEADLY STATE OF,

THINGS

REMOVING TRADE DEPRESSION

KEY TO PROSPEEITY.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRISPONDBNT.)

LONDON, 20th January.

The problems of international politics and their influence on trade and commerce were discussed at a meeting of the Association of British Chambers of ■Commerce in London, when, the chief points emphasised ,were the demand for a. gradual roturn to a gold basis and istcps to secure tho economic reconstruction of Europe, based on a demand for a cessation of inflation of currency by moans of the -printing press. Sir, A. Mond uttered a striking , plea for economy : "Local taxation and Imperial taxation have increased to an alarming extent in tho last few years," he said. "I feel that it is not yet adequately realised that wo have got to economise to an extent far greater than we have yet done. We liave assumed too much that industry and commerco, are tho milch cows which can be drawn on indefinitely, and that whatever the chargeon tho manufacturer, the cost can be passed on to tho consumer. We are reduced to the position in which the consumer finds himself too poor to buy tho igoocls of the manufacturer, and so far from the manufacturer being able to ipass on the increased costs, he finds himself ima-ble to produce at all, with consequent unemployment. You have got to got down to the root evil—the cost of .production; and rates and taxes -are part of the cost of production. I have encountered cases in -which guardians have granted out-relief on a scale larger than the amount earned by workers in the same district,"■■ he said. "That as a deadly state of things which no country can possibly stand." Lord Southwark moved a resolution oirging the early -reduction 'of postal charges with a view to rendering the postal cervices more popular, as their oise wao now being greatly curtailed and the development of commerce hindered by the high charges at present imposed. High charges were destroying' trade, increasing unemployment, and robbing tho Exchequer of revenue.

Mr. Field (Birmingham) declared that the Government was absolutely driving trade out of the country by their postal charges, which were a vexatious form of taxing industry.

HOW TO REMOVE TRADE DEPRESSION..

Mr. F. Russell (Chairman of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce) says trade depression would be removed to some extent if Scottish railways could eee their way to make a reduction in rates, however small. From the evidence given at the inquiry into Scottish railway conditions it was clear, that railwaymen in Scotland were occupying a privileged position and preventing a reduction in rates. Trade prospects for the future were doubtful, and commercial and industrial interests had reason to complain about the delay of the Government in bringing its proposed economies into operation. It was a hopeful sign that foreitrn markets were growing more appreciative of the high quality and dependability of British manufactures, but at' tho same time a ruthless cutting down of expenditure and a material reduction in national and local taxation were needed immediately if the United Kingdom .was to get any chance at all. ■

HUGE DRAPERY LOSSES.

It is expected that huge losses on the trading for the past year will be shown in the annual reports of sonie of the big wholesale drapery houses. Owing to the enormous decline in prices hea,vy losses by the wholesalers were unavoidable, but recent results have proved to be more unfavourable than was generally anticipated. Losses on tho year's trading of £100,0CO and upwards will not be uncommon among the larger businesses. Wholesalers were compelled to face the trade plump, and mark down their prices ir* drastic fashion to replacement cost^or even, below.

"EATING FIGURES."

A good'-humoured duel between a vailway manager and an engine driver enlivened the proceedings at a 1 hearing of a Scottish railway dispute before the National Wages Board. Cross-examined, Mr. J. Kiddle, a Caledonian driver, did not agree with the statement made at the inquiry that some of the Scottish railwa.ymen desired to go back to longer hours. ;

Mr. Cramp : "If you wer© told that men had actually gone to the superintendent, a.nd expressed that desire, what would you say?"—"l would say that it was, in our language, flap-doodle." (L»ughter.) Mr. Matheson pointed to the fall in the cost of living, but witness said tho working nian did not believe the Board of Trade figures, basing their argument on what they paid directly for the necessities of life. "If you could eat Boaad of Trade figures it would be all rights" he added.

COST OF LIVING.

The last official index figure regarding the cost of living showed that on 31st December the cost of all the commodities usually taken into account was 92 per cent, above that of July, 1914. This is the lowest recorded since March, 1918. Th e corresponding figure for Ist December, 1921, was 99 per cent., andi that for Ist January, 1921, was 165 per cent. The decrease in the percentage since Ist December is mainly due to reductions in the prices of some of the principal articles of food, including bread, flour, meat, butter, and eggs. TEA SHORTAGE AND HIGHER . ! PRICES. It is estimated that the world's output of tea is about 145,000,000 pounds below requirements. Considerable activity ex,ists on the buying side of the trade, anxi competitive purchasing on short supplies means higher prices. Control ended, and production continued at a high rate until representations were mad© to growers that it should be reduced. A demand from the Continent helped' to absorb the heavy production, but that market slumped, and with the failure of the expected demand from R-ussia, the call for decreased production was urgent. It was answered by the growers, fine plucking was resorted to, there ,is a, shortage, and prices are advancing. Last year phickings came down to below normal consumption ; India, has developed a habit of drinking her own tea, and "dry" America is making a larger cnll on the world's output. Importers declare that but for- the higher taxation {10d to Is per pound) the price of tea. would now be 35 per cent, above pre-wiu'. They add that one result has been tha ruinatioit of some small growers and heavy lossan by larger ones. With the reduction of purchasing power there is .'an inevitable increase in the call, for cheaper teas, and it must be reflected in the price. TRADE DISPUTES IN 1921. , The end of 1920 marked the termination of tlte long rise in wages which had been in progress since the early part of 3915. In 1321 the. decline in _' omplojv merit and Che fall in retail ]iricea were accompanied by reductions in rates of

wages which, beginning in January in tho coalmining. and wool textile industries, subsequently affected nearly all other industries. The changes in l-ates of wages reported during 1921, in those industries for which statistics are regularly compiled by the department, resulted in a, net reduction of about £6,000,000 in the weekly full-time wages of over 7,000,000 work-people. In 1920 a net advance of about £4,800,000 in the weekly wages of 7,700,000 workpeople was reported. The aggregate loss of working days in all disputes in 1921 was about--86,000,000. The total number oE disputes reported was less than one-half of the total for 1* 10, and much bolow the totals for either 1918 or 1919. Owing, however, to the magnitude of the coalmining dispute, the number of work-people involved in disputes in, 1921 was little less than in 1920, and greater than in any previous year except 1919; and the aggregate loss of time through disputes in 1921 was much in excess of any hitherto recorded. At the end of the year tho proportion unemployed in industries covered by the Unemployment Insurance Act was over 16 per cent., compared with approximately 6 per cent, at the beginning of January.

00-OFERATION IN TRADE.

Mr. Arthur Henderson says thai, trade and industry can no lonfier bo conducted, by empirical methods. In the present condition of affairs, rule-«f-th.umb methods and haphazard hand-to-mouth wnys of doing business were calculated to bring failure. A stagu has been reached in economic revolution when those responsible for the conduct of the enterprises by which the nation lived must get together for consultation and understanding. Co-operation waß the key to progress in trade, finance, and industry, as it wa« in international relations. Business men needod; to make a more determined effort to understand tho interdependence of world trade. We could not any longer treat trade and commerce as an individual, local, or even exclusively national concern. Trade was subject to tho complications of world finance Then there was an economic contribution each country must make lo the prosperity of tho'world as a whole. The earth was our storehouse, and nil. tho nations of Hie oartlnnuat be encouraged to bo our custom'orß. Trade difficulties of a quite unprecedented kind had arisen, the* result of causes whioh perplexed even the experts. Tho position was so abnormal that it might take years of effort by the combined forces of Capital, Labour, and the State to restore the shattered mechanism of trade and to set the wheels of industry revolving even as swiftly as before the world war. "We cannot be content merely to restore trade to the level of'pre-war years," declares Mr. Henderson. "Great as the value of trade was before the war, it was rot large enough, to provide everyone v-ith the means of a decent, healthy existence. The essential conditions of an economic revival are a bigger production of wealth, more efficient methods of distribution, the removal of restrictions yf.on "the free flow of trade, and a sonise of justice amongst the producers."

HIT BY GERMAN COMPETITION,

The National Union of Manufacturers states that no British industry has suffered inoro disastrously from Gorman competition than the, fabric glove trade, the makers of which recently applied to the Board of Trade'to be included in the Safeguarding of Industries Act, ; the application being opposed by the London Chamber of Commerce and other interests. When the case for the manufacturers was put it was pointed out that the result of the German competition has been to reduce the number of persons employed in the industry in this country from 11,000 to 1700, and all those now. are on slidrt time. The Germans are undercutting the British manufacturer by fifty per cent.

GERMAN TOMBSTONES.

Employees in the manumental granite trade, one of Aberdeen's leading industries, have been notified of an impending cut in wages, varying from threepence to fourpence per hour, ac-' cording to the class of workers, partly because practically no orders for tombstones or war memorials are being received .in Aberdeen, and only stock stones are being manufactured. Aberdeen granite merchants failed to induce the War Graves Commission to give a contract for service men's tombstones. The Germans, meantime, are serious competitors. It is reported that the American -wholesale agents, who previouslyused to buy large quantities of Aberdeerl granite, have purchased £10,000 worth of headstones from Germany, manufactured from Scandinavian granite, while large English cities are getting tombstones, and even war memorials, from Germany, and also from Cornwall, at rates substantially cheaper than Aberdeen grantite yards can produce them at with the present rate of wages.

TRADE-MARK ANOMALIES.

When the committee, under the chairmanship of Sir William Acworth, which is inquiring- into applications for the imposition of a tariff oh imported aluminium and hollow-ware made by "British aluminium and hollow-ware manufacturers, resumed, its, attings, Mr. E. Sellman (Sellman and Hill, Wolverhampton) said he had received from a German firm a letter stating that the Export Department at Berlin nd\v refused permits unless payment was taken in the respective currency. Under this scheme the new German prices for pots and pans were 5s pea- 'kilo, and for hollow goods 7s 6d per kilo. The English prices on a comparative scale were 8s Id and 16s 8d per kilo. , His own firm had cleared up all orders before Christmas; at the moment there was no employment in their works, and they had shut down.

Mr. C. J. Stanley, manager of the Army and Navy Stores, was questioned as to what happened when customers were told the article was made in Germany. "Do you tell them?" The witness smiled, and said that the goods were sometimes marked "Made in Germany." "Of course," he proceeded, "neither the package nor the article is required by law to he marked, and—" Tile Chairman: "Toll us why." The Witness: "Oh. I am not the Cabinet Minister who brought it in, but probably he wanted the Germans to pay the money Alley owed to Great Britain. The goods must not be marked 'Made in England,' but they need not be marked 'Made in Germany.' " When another witness referred to goods coming from Germany unmarked, the chairman said the matter need not be pursued. "It is too fine a point for us," he added, "and the main thing is that goods can come in from Germany that are not marked."