BRITISH INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 125, 30 May 1930, Page 7

BRITISH INDUSTRY

Seed for safe-

GUAKDINGr

BALDWIN ON SITUATION

(From "iho Post's" 'Representative.)

LONDON, 10th April,

Mr. Baldwin .continued his political campaign at Manchester-this.weok, .when lie spoke";"to a; large audience iii tile Free Trade Hall. He said that the Labour Government" liad dealt with unemployment. -They* Had added hal£ a million to the unemployed in liirio • months —no mean' performance. (Laughter.)

"Mr. Snowden has stated categorically in the Etouse of Commons," added Mr. Baldwin, "that there is a conspiracy at work, a conspiracy on the part of the .employers of labour. I suppose the'i'employ'ers of labour are closing down their works'and losing their money to spite the' Labour Government. (Laughter.)'.No more; child-' ish charge was ever invented. ;■■ -•■

"The uncertainty which is so bad for business has been created largely by thin Government,-who refuse to say what they are going Jp.'r.do' in,regard to safeguarding and preference.''; - ' "But alii this talk of theirs does'not minimiseitjie; gravity of the situation,'.and the qtifelftibn;:arises now- with/far greater insriste.nce'ithan'- it presented- itself ~. last May..V-,p'i(at;;i&'.-.tb be done? " _ : ;. . , BHiTi^H^DUMPING GROUND. "LjJojii'fpi'ia, motaent at the .world., we live: jn./r-It.<)s a; very.'different world from the Vpve;W^l' world. Protection on, the ConthienjS^.arid;; iir. America, is ;.more: rampant thajttr1 ever; -New "nations-.are more nationalist.;-in- -their.yoiitlook.and their, as-piration:S;-.tliaiivWere the old, nations before the'fwar',\~rlia.tipnalisation, of which we haveShpard :,s6,Smuch lately, is practised more (Certain. Continental countries than"-in-.^Gireat!:'Britajn, with the resnilt that in many countries they have increased output -and to a certain extent unemployment. The 'first : fruits of rationalisation are; that'it; makes-it essential for them to-put their, surplus -manufactures somewhere. Where can they put them? The only market open to them and to every country .with rationalised industries and a. surplus is Great Britain. And; into Great' Britain they are coming, and will come; "There is; no sign at;all of any country In Kiirope reducing its tariffs. They are ' nervous,of-the United States" of. America. sharing,,'l equally in the 'benefits of favoured .nation clauses with them. There is a je.al6u^y::in Europe of that great country..-; They are looking more and more to-'-'making treaties' among themselves, giv- .. inpr each other advantages where it pays them; and reducing tariffs in that way— tariffs by .international: and inter-locking tariff treaties, '.:-..::. ' ■ . "That-is-a very dangei'ous position for' us because ■ I ask myself where do 'we eomfi in?. We have no power to make treaties* with anybody, for we have nothing to give them. We have no power at present to keep the surplus goods of Continental countries out o£ this country. . . '•'-., '■ :. -;.-/..: '. '.■''.. ' "Are we going to watch the '(Countries ■ in Europe enter into tariff.' agreements, and are we going to'wateh our own Dominions make tariff agreements with Continental States, but continue to be. left out? CHANGE IN LANCASHIRE. "The most significant feature to-day is •the change that is coming over the opinion in" Lancashire. (Cheers.) "We are seeing the last for good or for ■ill of the laissez-faire which has dominated our politicians for three generations. The age of free trade is passing, is passing because no new free traders are being t>orn to-day.. (Cheers*.). In ten years their sole representatives will be a numhev of "old gentlemen burning incenseto the gods of their infancy. (Laughter:) "The freedom of free trade was freedom which meant the survival of the fittest and the weakest went to the wall. The workers of this country for the last two generations have been safeguarded in- every respect but one —health, pensions, and wages. But there is no safeguarding against foreign competition of an unfair nature.

'"Why not? That is the most essential fact in* the workers' lives.

. "That is the last .remnant of laissezfaire, and it has got to be stripped off, and stripped off quickly. The weapons to uste are safeguarding and the economic unity of the British Empire." (Cheers.)'

'Later Mr. Baldwin asked: "Are you jgoing to see unemployment growing at the rate of half a million in nine months, or aye you going to have safeguarding?"

';i While practising gymnastics on ; a horizontal bar at the V.M.C.A. gymnasiiim last evening, 8.. Chamberlain,van assistant at the Commercial Travellers' Club, fell heavily to the. ground. He 'sustained injuries to his noso and ■Abrasions to the forehead. After attention by the Free Ambulance he was taken to the Hospital, '

••'■fjTho Salamanca Tennis Club has been f anted a further lease of the area at esley road on a yearly tenancy at $20 per annum.