TRADE GAINS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 25 July 1928, Page 4

TRADE GAINS.

BRETAIN RECIOtVERING FAST. LtAJJOIUiH. MORE SETTLED. LONDON, May 0. Two years ago Ureal Britain was plunged into a state ot chaos ln*m wiiiil'tlh nobody knew just how siie would emerge. At nikl-might. May 3-1, 11)20, alter fee-venal I-nri Hess eleven th-liour efforts (by fiotili the Uovenimeiit and jUtIiAMH* lieadieus' to .prevent tiic disaster, it ivas lapiiounced that a genera l strike had ecintneneed. •This drastic step by the Trades Union Congress was the. result ol the refusal of the Government to submit to the demands of the coni, miners, who were already idle. Four million .workers, members ol imioiiis laifiliated 1 with the congress, including railroad, a-uto bus, street ear, general tUansport, building, electrical, printing and virtually all manual labour employees, ceased work, business men, stenographers and ollicc workers weie uonvpellcd fcos walk to their places of employment or stay in town. The majority ot private automobiles were tejiroorariily converted into food and milk transports.

GOVJdU.NIM.MNIT WELL PR EPA-RUD. Miinbr disorders and clashes with the police were numerous throughout the' country, but before the turmoil had' laotcd many clays it was plaiidy evident that- the Government- had been prepared for it. Troops were employed to transport food to and from vast distributing centres, volunteers ran skeleton services, of trains and auto buses, nowupapors succeeded in publishing tabloid sheets, and numbers of workers, realising that the -strike was broken, begun to defy the orders of the T.U.C. and return to their jobs. In a. week the strike was called off. Neither tne Government nor the workers had gained anything. On the contrary, there were heavy losses on both sides. British industry and trade had suffered a tremendous blew front which it would take- much time and hard work to recover. Orders which were intended for British firms were diverted and given to foreign contractors.

Thousands of workers returning to their jobs', after" the official “all dear bad 'been given, found that their employers. had lost so many contracts as a result of the strike that they could not afford to employ them. Consequently the unemployment problem became mor e acute than ever. This situation continued for many months, while the trade of other European countries- increased and their unemployment difficulties were considerably reduced. FROM EBB TO FLOOD.

The .same situation does not exist- today however, tor, as the Prince or Wales forecast in a recent speech, “The tide ol‘ British trade lias ceased to ebb, and is now on the flood. The uliango ha«y not come about suddenly, but as a result of continued efforts and patience on the- part of both employers and workers. The export figures tor 192/ . are £709,105,420, compared with £6p3,040 - 909 during the troublous year in 1926. 'Jibes© figures are considerably below the £773?380,702 worth q-f produce and manufacturers exported in i 920, Out they are at least encouraging, awLshow that recovery is being made. During 1920 the average monthly output of coal from .British mines was 10,523,000 tons, while the figureydor the present year range around 21,UUU,000 tons monthly. Though there are yfci.ll over a million unemployed people in Great. Britain, recent returns show a decrease, ol some 32 000 compared with the number or receivers of the dole in the previous year. Tho peace conference held, last year between the Laibour leaders and a group of prominent industrialists, though,accomplishing nothing definite, certainly clipped several inches qtt the top of the h-e-Eo which Ties between the two classes, and vnay prove to be the forerunner of" permanent peace.