NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1934. JAPANESE COMPETITION

Northern Advocate, 28 July 1934, Page 8

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY

SATURDAY, JULY 28, 1934. JAPANESE COMPETITION

Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper.

I It was announced in the cable news on Wednesday that the ■great. majority of the British Colonies had. imposed quota restrictions on foreign textile goods. This was in compliance with the British Government's request, and the action taken will serve a useful purpose if it brings about a renewal of negotiations between British- and Japanese textile interests. There is a doubt, however, whether such negotiations would do much to stop the decline of the Lancashire cotton industry since the colonies represent not more than about 15 per cent of Lancashire’s total market. It is to be feared, moreover, that, there is a general tendency to exaggerate the extent to which the cheapness of the Japanese produce lias been responsible for Lancashire’s decline. “'Pacific Affairs,” it its latest issue, gives some interesting tables to illustrate this point. The first shows that, in the seven years between 1927 and 1933, world exports of cotton goods fell from 7,970,000:000 square yards to 5,372,000,000 square yards. * That is, if the index, figure for 1927 is 100. the index figure for 1933 is 67.7. The main causes of this striking decline have been the rapid development of domestic cotton industries in India and China and the Chinese boycott of ’Japanese goods. The next two tables show Japan’s progress and Lancashine’s decline in the cotton, textile market in the same period: World Exports Of Cotton Piece Goods.

These figures are most interesting. They show that between 1927 and 3933. a. period in- which world trade in textiles fell by one-third, Great Britain’s textile exports decreased by onehalf, find Japan’s increased by one-half. But they also show that in this period, although Great Britain’s trade has fallen by about 2.000,000,000 square yards, Japan’s has increased by only 700,000,000 square yards. | In other words, only one-third of | the trade lost by Great Britain can he attributed to-the effect of j| Japanese competition, the other j-j two-thirds having been lost as a|| result of the depression- and the , growth of domestic industries in ( former markets. i

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