BRITISH TRADE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVIII, Issue 21, 6 January 1928, Page 8

BRITISH TRADE

A BRIEF REVIEW SIX MONTHS’ IMPROVEMENT. It is becoming apparent to close observers of British industry that two important and interesting things are happening, says an English trade authority. First, that the past six months, which have appeared to many as exhibiting extremely small industrial gains, have actually been a period of solid foundation-laying in the older industries and that the results of this steady but unspectacular activity are now displaying themselves. Second, that a period of industrial combination such as resulted from the wiping out of weak and uneconomic industrial units in the United States after the post-war collapse in 1921 is quietly but effectively taking place. INDUSTRIAL COMBINES. Just as this wiping out of weak concerns in America produced lowered costs and economics which in turn induced buying and reconstructed prosperity, with a constantly increasing wage scale, observers in Britain believe that signs of the same economic process can be detected here. In the chemical industry combination is already a fact, and may even extend itself to the Continent on a cartel or some other basis. Some of the largest iron and steel companies have either combined or are planning such action. In Lancashire the final throwing over of all the many schemes of short hours, limited output, price agreements, and other ■li-meant but uneconomic measures clearly means, it is held, that those plants which are able to manufacture cheapest will get the business, LANCASHIRE TEXTILES. A number of firms in Lancashire are now running full time, and it is Known that a very large export inquiry exists, but owing to the irregularity of prices at the moment, .mowing the breakdown of the price agreement, buyers are holding off. ,ue uses of cotton are, however, expanding to an astonishing degree, both by themselves and in connection with other fabrics. COAL INDUSTRY, Coal also is looking up, but it is obvious that public sentiment is becoming decidedly vexed with the “wait and see” attitude of die mine owners. A seasonal improvement was certain to come, but what is now being demanded is a rehabilitation of the entire industry, the elimination of weak units, better relations with the men and a sincere effort, through combination, to take advantage of those economic forces which have proved of such great value in other industries. MOTORS AND MACHINERY. In the newer industries such as motor-cars, electrical machinery, artificial silk, radios and parts, motorcycles, and so many others that the investigator is amazed to find how modern invention has changed the face of industry, improvement is steady and satisfactory. It is clear that it is these new industries which are absorbing the constantly increasing number of new British workers, and are as well taking over a part of the displaced surplus in the older and less prosperous trades.