TRADE WITH RUSSIA

Evening Star, Issue 20314, 24 October 1929, Page 11

TRADE WITH RUSSIA

BRITISH DELEGATION'S REPORT r - GREAT OPPORTUNITIES Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, October 22. The British Government has been informed of the views of the committee of the British Trade Delegation which visited Russia, and its readiness to cooperate with the Government in all matters relating to tho development of trading relations with Russia. As Sir Joseph Isherwood, the chairman, signed the report, which shows that Russia’s requirements during the next five years include the development of elecricity, textiles, coal mining, agriculture, wood-working, shipbuilding, road making, and building machinery. There is also a large import market for boots and shoes of leather. Orders are now available for building work —electric stations, mine construction, artificial silk mills, etc., and there are large concessions for the extension and reconstruction of various metal works. Russia estimates that £70,000,000 could be invested, in addition to the £12,000,000 of imports. Concessions would also be granted for railroad works costing £20,000,000. The delegates were greatly impressed with tile determination evinced by the Russian administrators to develop every industry on the utmost possible modern lines. A footnote states that four members resigned from the committee, and that they had taken no part in the report.— Australian Press Association. LOOKING FIVE YEARS AHEAD PLAN OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. The “ Pyatiletfla,” or five-year plan of national development, prepared by the State Planning Commission, has made a marked impression upon the Russian popular imagination, states the Moscow correspondent of the * Observer.’ This project, the full details of which would fill many volumes, represents an extremely ambitious and probably unique effort to forecast with almost mathematical precision tho progress of the Soviet Union in industry and agriculture, trade, finance, education, and many other fields. By referring to the five-year plan one can find predictions on such varied subjects as how many people will be attending cinema performances in 1933, how many books will be published, how much pigiron will be produced, and how much cotton will be imported. _ The psychologically stabilising effect of the Pyatiletka on the Soviet economic administrators is very great. It gives them definite goals at which to aim. It conveys a sense of control and direction in the midst of every-day problems and difficulties. No effort has been spared in making the idea of tho five-year plan widespread and popular; one can scarcely go into a Government office (and all the largo industa-ies in Russia are iuanaged i by'_ Government offices) without finding in some conspicuous place a map or chart, showing the. amount of new building which the department in question expects to carry out during the next five years. The general economic outline of the five-year plan calls for an extremely rapid development of Soviet agriculture and industries, such as mining, metallurgy/ and chemical production, and an intensive extension of the .use of electrical power in the country. The Pyatiletka aims at a noteworthy industrialisation of agriculture, calling for a very great increase in the supply of the peasantry with agricultural machinery, tractors, and chemical fertilisers. , There can be no doubt that the plan is taken with the utmost seriousness by the Soviet and Communist leaders, and every nerve and fibre of the national economic organism is being strained to ensure success. So far as it is possible to judge at the present time the projected increase of 20 per cent, in the output of the Soviet industries during the present year—the first of the Pyatiletfla—will be realised. Satisfactory harvest prospects and a successful spring planting campaign tend to ease the situation in regard to agricultural supply. At the same time there have been unmistakable deviations from the plan in the spheres of price and quality. In the effort to reach the high quantitative standards which arc required, many managers of State trusts forget that one pair of good boots gives more satisfaction to the consumer than two pairs of had ones. The plan makes no allowance for foreign assistance. Optimists > here believe that American and British financial circles will realise the opportunities of the Soviet Union as a market for investment of capital long before the five-year period is over Such developments as the recent discovery of oil near Perm are in the nature of assets which were quite unsuspected when the plan was originally protmilgaied. NEVER AGAIN RESOLVE OF BRITISH WHO VISITED RUSSIA. Vivid stories of the terrible conditions in Soviet Russia were told by 200 British tourists on their arrival at Southampton after visiting Petrograd during a cruise of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company’s liner Arcadian, and going on an excursion to Moscow (states the correspondent of the ‘ Daily Mail ’). They were the first British holidaymakers to visit Russia since the revolution, and said that they had no wish to repeat their, experience. Mr T. E. Cynon, of Bryn-y-Mor road, Swansea, said:— “The houses are dilapidated and the full of potholes. Almost everything is State-controlled. If you carry a parcel through the streets you are immediately stopped by a policeman who wants to know how and where you got it. To retain the goods you have to produce the receipt. ■ “There is a general impression that there will be another revolution before long.. The country, is devoid of gaiety dr colour. I did not see one smile, merely sullen looks. The people’s homes are in many instances devoid of - furniture, and the workers make their luncheon off black bread and tea.’ 5 •