GERMAN INDUSTRY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 5 October 1936, Page 7

GERMAN INDUSTRY

TREND OF ACTIVITIES SYNTHETIC PRODUCTS PROGRESS IN MANUFACTURE Considerable light is thrown on German activities in developing artificial substitutes for natural products by a letter a German citizen has written to a friend in Auckland, and which has been published in the “Herald.” “With the building of a new road system,” he writes, “the motorisation of Germany is developing very quickly. The demand for petrol increases at the same time. After the end of next spring the production of artificial petrol will reach the same amount as the import of last year. This means that from a consumption of 100 per cent, imported nearly 75 per cent, will be made from coal. The production of gas, tar, oil, etc., will follow. “Regarding artificial rubber and wool, the new development is advanced so far that three new factories are under construction. Rubber is still expensive to make (about twice more m price than natural rubber), but as the qualities of the artificial product are by far superior to the natural product, I think that after a period of five to ten years nobody will buy any more the natural product.

OUTLOOK FOR WOOL “As far as wool is concerned the price is not essential, because the artificial product is much cheaper than the natural wool. But the quality is still inferior and the New Zealand farmer can go on like before. However, one point is important—the quality of the artificial wool is increasing quickly and there is no doubt that an important industry will be built up for the production of artificial wool. “Another interesting line is the production of fat from coal. A first plant is under construction and the product is excellent. The idea is to use the artificial fat for the soap industry, which is a big consumer. “You may think that all this activity is dull and that it would be more wise to import the natural products. There are several reasons against this method, the most important one is the shortness of foreign currency, without which we are unable to buy as much as we need. We all hope for a stabilisation of the international rates of exchange on a reliable basis between pound sterling and reichsmark.

EYES ON AFRICA “Another possibility to make our situation more easy would be a solution of the question of colonies in which we could be able to buy with German money. Nobody thinks of entering again into the Pacific area, because everybody fears the coming fight between the white race and Japan. But there is a strong feeling that we should have again colonies in Africa. There is very little hope that any colonies v/ill be given without a war. “A war is disliked much by the present generation. But a war, we fear, may be unavoidable one day between the Bolshevik nations and a bloc of middle European nations, which, I think, will be formed during the next few years. “You may doubt that such war for a principle, for an idea, may come. You have not gone through the different attempts to introduce Communism into Germany since the war. I fear the time will prove our theory to be right. The development in Spain is terrible and the conditions in France are not stabilised at all, and may turn to become critical one day in two or three years’ time. I think that the rearmament which the Hitler Government carried through is dictated mainly by the fear of Bolsheviks making war with a bloc of Communistic or half Communistic States.

ANGLO-GERMAN RELATIONS “There is an enormous sympathy for England and the English countries here. I personally, however, have little hope that England and Germany will come to a closer co-operation, because the London conservative foreign politics continue, to prefer to reign the European world by the old system of the balance of powers. Nobody can tell, under these circumstances, what the course of developments during the next period will be. Nineteen-forty to 1950 will be the critical period of the world, comparable with the time between 1910 and 1930. This period will show whether the world will organise herself in Bolshevistic or autocratic nations (the old liberal systems, convenient to all of us, will disappear)• “This period will also> prove whether it will be possible to come to an agreement between the over-populat-ed States and the rich ones without a war. Personally speaking, I think that such war cannot solve the problems and I know our present ruler, Hitler, thinks the same. But new generations are coming and they may think a different way. There will be some lasting results of these revolutionary times which are quite definite. — •» “Politically:*The rising of the yellow races. Economically: The turning back of the wheels to nationally-organised systems, which are less dependent on international resources. Technically: An enormous development of new chemical and mechanical methods to make our life dependent on natural supplies.”