"SECOND TO NONE"

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 52, 10 September 1928, Page 10

" SECOND TO NONE "

THE ENGLAND OF TO-DAY INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS (By Telegraph.) i (Special to "The Evening Post.") i AUCKLAND, This Day. ■ The fact stands out that England remains the strongest financial country in tho universe to-day, said Sir Joseph Ward, who returned from England last. night. Referring to industry, ho said that the steel and iron trades had not yet recovered, and t]ic position was far from satisfactory. "The whole life of the country has materially changed since the war," lie continued. "There is a strong mov« in operation at tho moment, backed byj tho leading men, to see that architecture, as far as private homes are concerned, does not deteriorate. These men are anxious to see that English home life, which has been such a great factor in moulding British character, is not spoilt, at any rate as far as the ■erection of buildings is concerned." COMPETING TRANSPORTS. Referring to transport, Sir Joseph said that legislation had been passed to protect the railways against the enterprise of petrol-driven vehicles. The increase in bus transport was phenomenal. Services were running long distances in every direction, and the railway companies were certainly feeling the pinch, and would have to be content with eves smaller dividends. The companies had their own buses on some routes. "I do not believe that they will ever run the motor buses off," commented Sir Joseph. "They are a development of modern life. Millions of capital are sunk in them, and the number of men employed is enormous. Each bus employs two men, but that cannot be said for a railway carriage." Sir Joseph Ward concluded by saying that there was no sign of decadence in tho Old Country. Tho spirit of enterprise was as firmly embedded as ever, and the country was second to none.