BRITAIN’S BUSINESS

Feilding Star, Volume 8, Issue 2425, 9 May 1931, Page 6

BRITAIN’S BUSINESS

GRA VE WARN INGS GIVEN CAI SES OF ALARMING DROP REPORT FROM FAR EAST HIGH PRODUCTION COSTS (Ausi. and N.Z Cable) London. May 8. (Irave warnings as to the future of British trade are con"aim'd in the repo t of the Trade Mission, to the F«: r East under the chairmanship cf Sir Ernest Thompson, and including representatives of the trades union,-;' co-operative movement, and the enginee. ing and woollen industries. TIIF CONCLUSIONS The conclusions and reeommcmlaious. which are unanimous, point out hat if the decline in Bri ain's exports continues at the present alarinig rate, the result must soon be bankruptcy. The repo/! emphasises that low price rather than quality is the first aside rati on of sale in the Far East. Britain’s goods are made more* expellee than her rivals’ by higher wages, shorter hours and heavier taxation. VOLT ’NT ARY SACRIFICE I'ahiuc iuu costs must be reduced to a competitive level. This wou.n entai* a voluntary sacrifice on all < lasses in Britain, but is preferable to compulso '.v saeribces due to disaster. The shrinkage of the British trade with Japan its primarily the outcome of Japan’s ability t<» supply her own manufacturers The decline in China, is cine to Britain’s products lacing iloiircr than Jauaue.se and German and jess a J tractive than Ameri.l A PAN EBE COMBE iTHoN special warning is issued in regard to Japan's great, anil growing < <mpc it ion in woollens. British iudustry must he o -gauised to meo'; it. The Yorkshire wage cost per unit of production is at least two and a half lo three times above that in Japan