JAP COMPETITION

Hokitika Guardian, 1 December 1933, Page 5

JAP COMPETITION

EFFECT ON BRITAIN

reviewed BY MR runciman.

(Per British Official Wii eleii.) RUGBY, 'November 29. The President of the Board of Trade, Rt. -lion.•' YV. f;, Ktmeiman, speaking in the House of Commons, during the debate on the effect on the British export trade of Japanese competition, said : the Government had for a very -long time been kept fully informed of the position in ’Lancashire. When last the matter Wiag be■fore the House, tlie Government had expressed itself in favour of an attempt being made by the industrialists themselves, in the first plaei-, and they .have been justifid by what had happened in India during the last four months. The fall of imports of English clothing into India was one of the greatest to be faced. Th.i Indian boycott was mow over, ,qnd Lancashire was about to regain some portion of the market that wag lost. Fortunately, the industrialists who Went to India had been able to reach an agreement ■With 'th e cotton producers. Japan, he said, was; a very large importer into India arid. 'her imports there had been ' going up year .by year. The Indian Gov- ' einmenfc were very much alive to the situation, and they were in the clos- 1 est consultation with representatives 1 of Japan. If there were 'any delay ( in these, negotiations, it had not been 1 the fault,-.of the British Governm?nt. ■ ! 1 iU. *

Referring to unfair- competition r which he said was based on an infringement of designs and trademarks, »Mf Runciman said that this wa s a- matter which gave cause for a good deal of (rouble,, not in this country so much as elsewhere. Jn some portions of the British Empire, however, good'! had 'been imported from Japan bearing'Bri.dsh names and British trade marks. - That was a form of dishonesty which a n y Government. - ought to do' its best to suppress. •' ' v . •

If it were necessary to take steps, the 'Government was prepared to take them, but he hoped that, by making representations, the necessary impression would be made op the 'of those in 'control of--'Japanese' commercial affair's. Ho could not see that there would be any advantage to' Lancashire industry if they'began, a.s suggested in some quarters, by abrogating the AngloJapanese Treaty which affected some thirty other countries in the British Empire. He preferred, first, to exhaust all other means, but if they found it necessary to renounce the Treaty, then hb Would consider the subject front a different point of view, ahd with quite a different intent.

LANCASHIRE’S TRADE DECLINES.

LONDON, November 29

Striking ’figures regarding Japanese trade with Britain and the Empire were given during a' discussion of a private member’s motion in the Commons, in which Mr Fuller urged the Government to take steps <io minimise Japanese competition in connection with which nothing adequate was yet done.

. He said that Japan’s exports increased by 96 per cent, in the first six months of 1933. Japan was sending thirty million square.y.and 6 of cotton to Kenya .and Uganda, compared with (Britain’s five millions. Japanese bicycles wre selling in partg of the iFar East for 21s each, electric bulbs Is 6d a dozen, lead pencils Is lOd a gross, and fountain pens three pence teach.. Japan, in the past twelve years subsidised shipping companies to the extent of eighteen million sterling. Mr Proctor .said that if Japanese (competition were not checked, there would be no Lancashire cotton industry left .after' four years. The whole Empire and Westefn world were alarmed 'because the people’s standard of life was threatened by Japanese competition. Sir H. Samuel said that Lancashire lost five-sevenths of. her pre-war export trade chiefly owing to the collapse of the Indian trade and Japan’s ccmpeti'iion. Th e chief cause of Japan’s success was lower wage 6 .and automatic looms. The Japanese cotton industry was a, highly efficient organisation ; wag a loose mass of .unorganised entities. The only w.ay to trecover international trade was by concentration on reduction of costs. Japan’s subsidies and currency restrictions were illegitimate, and her competition must be .counteracted!/

ANGLO-DUTCH CO-OPERATION

THE HAGUE, November 29

The Federation of. British Industries and the Dutch Employers’ Federation are conferring on December 2, with ,a view to English-Dutch cooperation against Japanese competition in India and Europe.