CHEAPNESS OR QUALITY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 9 April 1934, Page 2

CHEAPNESS OR QUALITY

LANCASHIRE WAKING UP

Mr W. J. Orr, chairman of the Lancashire Cotton Corporation, Limited, speaking at the annual meeting of shareholders, said that the corporation had improved its position in 1933, and the last thing the board would think of doing would be to put up their hands and give in. To say that Lanacashire was beaten was not the view of either the directors or thp staff’. There was a certain amount of truth in the statements that the industry required complete reorganisation, that its plant was obsolete, that it had no unity of purpose, and that those in the trade were unable to say unitedly what was required to put the industry on a more satisfactory footing; but lie believed that Lancashire was waking up. It had made progress on the spinning side, the very first necessary step in any reorganisation of the trade. No rebuilding of the superstructure, no reorganisation at the marketing end of the trade could be effective unless spilling was strong and earning at least sufficient profit to enable it to keep its plant up-to-date and to produce for the manufacturers the best yarn in the world. Better yarns means increased loom efficiency, better wages for the operatives, ail increased demand for tlie goods, and, as their value was recognised, better prices. Either Lancashire must compote in price with tlie cheapest producer in the world, or she must produce goods of a quality and standard, on an economic basis, which would command an enhanced price over tlie cheapest productions. Lancashire’s advantages pointed to the production of a higher standard of quality as the most likply way. to success. In the meantime Lancashire was tlip principal sufferer by Japanese competition. “This raid on our trade under the existing organisation or lack of it in the Lancashire industry,” Mr Orr concluded, “cannot be seriously countered, but, once a market is lost, it is difficult to recapture it. It therefore rests with the Government oo decide what value to place on the Lancashire textile export trade and to take such measures as may bo deemed possible to protect it.”