BRITAIN INDUSTRIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 April 1925, Page 5

BRITAIN INDUSTRIES

■ A DOLEFUL STORY. t ■. 7 • • //■ BEATEN BY FOBEIGNERS. / > ... , t y I (Australian and N.Zj Cable ;7-7''"7 . i :./.-'7, —■. ■/•/ ./ 7'...7'..,J L . (Recd. 11.30 a.m.) ' 7 ' ' '/''/SYDNEY, April 29... . /.Mr Alberti Spencer,’president Auckland, Provincial Employers’ Association, has arrived at Sydney en route -to New afte’ri a world tb'ur. ‘‘ /.lie says that |;rade in England -is being strangled. by -foreign cbinpetition,. aided by tjie Government (lole. Ihlpor-' talit arid • oTd-established industr.iG| 'are failing; ftpd foreign cquriliies' • with IoW Wages 'and freedoni jrp’n capturing'the' wbrlcl’sf trade; The/competitidni. from' which British .mantifac'tuyersj/ aiie s?;ff;i'iug is so fiejrcA "that they hdye found .themselves engaged dri .. Onfce the shirc abl<? :t to 'cbriip/te against All. foreign manlifaciuiP-rs, l> u t' to-day ' these famous /works’ Ard lari- 1 gUlshi^ig/because’ 1 w’ th‘® 'invasion pf j the British market by Czechd-slovafcKL whose manufacturers are landing cups ari jasauters in Britain’' and, retailing ’thf nf.Ai’ rt' ddzen, wlnlei the lowest price ■ which the British/ manufacturers c'oitld sell them wa ! si 8/ : a dozen wholesale. Other industries'Were in a 1

Similar position.' felilcte“the sbiri'ern'erii m the'Ruhr difficulty, 'uermAriy'’anil France had’ been underselling- British mine owners by 5/ per ton, Thb result was that'thbre Were 100/009 niiners/tfn employed in'the United Kingdom.' 1 Hol - land had captured' the market for electrical goods. Wliefi. industrial "troubles' ariose over the reduction in wages and longer hours, the'employers shut down the works. The Vorkme-n'accepted hAll a loaf as Better than no bread;'“Condi-

tions in England had readied such a desperate" stage that British manufacturers “wer© being compelled to establish works and factories in other Eurbpean countries. An English conripany in SpaSii landed dates in England at £l2 10/ a thousand, whereas some Home manufacturers had to sell at £l7 5/.;' ' ■ Referring Jo world trade, '■ Mr Spencer expressed the' opinion th'at the enormous prices wool was fetching could not be maintained. A new fabric .was being manufactured in England, .Snain and Italy, one of the constituents of which was wood pulp, other essential ' elements being wool and cotton. The volume of manufacture was increasing rapidly. The effect of the 'substitution of cotton and wood 'pulp in the. material tmust in tiriifi operate against the prevailing price of wool. Mariiifact.ur.irig indiis-, tries generally in ltaly w,ere in a'"96’irising condition owing to th ability to undersell Britain '’arid successfully with other cbi/ntries.' It seemed that the British on the dole system had lost the art oi: working. • SET-BACK.. HOBART, April 29? 1 Owing to heavy losses sustained' during the past two years, the woollen', manufacturers, James Aitken and Sb'ns Proprietory, temporal ily tn suspend working operations.' About 80 employees are affected/