BRITAIN’S LOST TRADE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 11280, 9 August 1930, Page 5

BRITAIN’S LOST TRADE

l myi t6 1 no • proteotionl Md day" JIIGH PRODUCING COST.

CAUSE OR BIG-INCREASE IN ; *AriGUAfTON URGED.' ). MORE SAFEGUARDING AND f ' IJNR>rPL()YAIE.\ T T. • ‘ :Cn!ted‘ Press ABsn.'-by.’El. !?cj. Copyright V . ' - LONDON, August, 7. The unprotected: state, of ihe liomo market and tlic lilgh cost ot produo ’.'.tionj';'rendering it impossible: to meet ; world competitive prices, are the main roa'sQnsUor Rritaip’s loss of. trade'and } Qio^alarming'lncrease iii unempiovnient, according to the report of the British Chambers 'of. Commerce Je'utive; which' was presented to- the Government after toking the; views' of 100 vKamhers throughout the country. ’

The report emphasises that in addition to the world depression, the dislocation of business is due to political troubles in India, China, and Egypt, which accentuated Britain’s difficulties, but if she maintained her share or world trade unemployment would lie much less. '

Tlio. report urges the extension of safeguarding as essential. Certain chambers suggest tire encouragement of migration.

Newspapers draw attention to the unemployment figures. Besides thrise wholly unemployed there are 859,685 temporarily unemployed,- while 93,000 normally in casual work are classified in a) different way. • The andlysis of tho situation at-, thq.encl 'of June, when tho total unemployed was 1,911,749, showed that half were unemployed in a few fr.ades, for. instance the mining group, 280,90(1; cotton, 234,237 ; other textiles,’-156,373 ; building, 147,082; engineering, 110,806; met-ail manufacture, 83,298;. and shipbuilding,. 02,773. It- is estimated that 60,000 of the recent increase are due- to numbers being added to tlie register as the result of the new Unemployment Insurance* Act removing conditions and extending facilities for benefits.

Tlie Morning Post says it is impossible to- acquit the Government- of a large share of responsibility for tlie disastrous position. Tho Agues nr© am indictment to’which tlicro is no defence.

CAN TT BE BROUGHT ROUND?

WHOLESALE OVERHAUL OF ' ’RESOURCES NEEDED. .

AN APPEAL TO THE DOMINION

FOR BUSINESS

(Special to .Times.)

WELLINGTON, August/ 7

• Many people are found to declare their faith in tlie fact that England will win through, but to Mr. J. R. Ellsworth, a. prominent merchant and : financier of the .Cit-y of London, there is no certainty about it. “Let us now deceive ourselves,” said Mr. Ellsworth to-day. “We are fighting for our very existence;; With our cotton’ trade shackled by the powerful Indian boycott, our woollen mills' facing -the competition of wellcquippedj ably run mills with most modern plant and management in France,, our steel supremacy menaced by the new and desperate measures which- are-being -adopted’in Germany, (our : ’agriciilfiirb demoralised arid' he-fti-rfating, tlie farmers themselves not being able to agree on such an obvious course as co-operative marketing on the lines suggested'to them By the Labour Government/ our immense burden ’of debt* and the slovi;, but., steady, drain of'our gold reserves to France, I'defy anyone to be optimistic about the position of British industry to-day, unless he is an'ignoramus.: “A good deal of our troubles aro due" to our own fault. The almost continuous trouble in the coal industry wak directly duh- t-o the - manner in ' which the coal-owners attempted to sell their coal-;to the Continent at inflated prices, while the level remained low. This caused' Continental countries to commence t ‘ developing tlieir water power ''sources and hast-' oned the conflict between *• white and “black” coal, which would have come soon enough in 'all cpnseicnoe. Out faihiro to'regain’our old l position in the textile trades'is largely dub to lack of courage and decision of the owners: -'Lofiger houfs, lower wages'; these do not avail us when we are : dealing ! with 'markets where wo' must make in big quantities or perish. E e need-a wholesale overhaul of* our. resources and a wholesale, re-staffing uf oiff industry at the top. It is the .captains of industry.who have failed. ■' A deadlock in cohl; idle) textile mills • with almost continuous disputes; our shipping, supremacy challenged by the ‘United States’ 'and the'extent ;of our failure unrealised ■ until you know •th at' -th e ; Royal ; Mail ’ Steaifl- Pa'cket Company, a concern with a capital of 90 millions sterling, has set up a committee -to confer 1 with tlie direct- : ors : ’of tlie company rind’, the various associated arid allied companies in, re--1 grird" to matters of administration and finance. The- reason for the appointment 'of this' committee, of which my friend -Mr. Walter Rairiciman is chairman,'is/ that; the company’s auditor i'refijsed -,to endorse tliS/ valuatibii [placed upon Jhe iijyestments in allied : companies; This 1 concern is one of the greatest of shipping trusts arid includes.' the White Star. Line, .the, •Shaw, vSavill, and Albion Line, Elder, Dempster and Co., and the.; African ■Steamship Go. ”, ;,, . ■,/ , '• .-A': gopd deal of .troubles,.--tod, are d ! ue i ‘tb’'dur oivn epufage.” Tlie 'American Debt .settlement, th© policy of . deflation(whidji. doubled the. wpight |of the'national debt); the"vast sums of taxation which we pay annually, are .crippling -us. The. . nation pays LlßOOjdpO a'day in interest upon its debt, and this would be impossible for, a single year ,were-it not for the fact, .- (tbat;I.^'th'o.i 1 .^'th'o.i iGbyerriTrienffy-. collects'' ifjfpm the people in Hiejr; capacity a£ : taxpayers t-o pay thrilnteresllto them -in' tlieir capacity as ; bond-holders. (That. is ■ .to say, the interest : is /paid oii-: -internal . debt, <a •’; : clrcumstauce which makes ' the taxation less serious than it might bo. .. f , ...

"But 'the, i ,finai;.hlow..to.' British. indhstfy'dias; recently: Jiceir struck. ( ; In

the days before the war about /0 per cent; of the total -investments made went into industry, about 30 per cent.'*into the hanks and mortgages. To-dav those figures are reversed. Industry is receiving only half'the supply of funds which it received" before 1914. : .. ( "Recently; Lord. Melchett declared tliat the present- restriction of investment was a, world-wide phenomenon, which is true. But that does not alter the fact that it is more serious for us than' for other countries. Ror Britain, the next/few years are going ■to'be the 'vital test J Either we win or we lose: and. if we lose, wo sink to the rank of at least a- second-rate power. So far, our great supplies of raw materials, of oil and coal, have held us up. But we are feeling"the -pressure of greater and greater f com? ipetition; Against iis- are -the ’ massed machines of America, the cheaper labour of the continent of Europe. Wo shall need, a.ll .the' help we can get. ; Theferofe, t' make to you a- very urgent appeal to stand by ris in the next few years. Ail overhaul of our industry is bound, to come. Whethei it will bq in time I do not know. .But you can help to (give us that ex;tra time which, may, really' see’ Britain begin 1 to lyin ' through I’ , , 1