THE EMPIRE'S TRADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19567, 21 February 1927, Page 13

THE EMPIRE'S TRADE.

SIGNS OF BRITISH REVTVAi. REACTION 0* COAL STOPPAGE STIMULATION TO SHIPPING. FOREIGN AND DOMINION CUSTOM. BT ARCHIBALD HTTJS.D. The whole Empire is vitally concerned in the prosperity of British industries, since the British people bought in 1935 Empire-produced goods of the value of £429,136,177, an increase of upwards of £41,000,000 on the figures for the preceding year. The continued progrsss of this movement depends, in the laufc analysis, on the spending power of the men end women of Great Britain, and they cannot spend money which they huve not earned either by manufacturing goods or rendering services overseas in connection with sea transport, insurance and rnerchanting generally. The extent to which the purchasing of Empire goods has developed in the British Isles has already upset the balance of inter-Imperial trade, since the Dominions, colonies and dependencies bought British produce of the value of only £335,814,162 in 1925, that figure representing a slight falling off in contrast with the preceding year. The tendency consequently is for the people in the British Isles to spend more and more of their money in overseas parts of the Empire, while, on the .other hand, the demand in overseas parts of the Empire for British produco is slightly declining. The Transatlantic Trade. Those are considerations which cannot bo ignored, since the probability is thai; if the balance of trade is not adjusted with a view to securing cargoes in both directions, outward as well as homeward, shipping will be disorganised, and that disorganisation will react on the prosperity of the industry, with probably a resultant restriction of services, if not deterioration of the quality of the tonnage. It is an axiom of shipping policy that the maximum of efficiency, as well as cheapness of carriage, is to be secured when outward and homeward cargoes aro available in ample ouantity. That axiom is illustrated on the North Atlantic route, with populations of 130,000,000 on one side of tho "pond," as the Americana call it, and about 400,000,000 on tho other, all those communities being engaged in transatlantic trade. The United States and Canada bought from tins people of the British Isles in 1925 goods, including re-exports, valued at £115,435,000, while the purchases of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa amounted to £121,910,000. The consumers in these three Dominions purchased far more per head of their population, it is true, than tho inhabitants of Canada and the United States, but these figures explain why, regarded in bulk, tho transatlantic trade is so important to British industry, and it a!y> reveals tho solid foundations upon which shipping in the North Atlantic rests itfl prosperity, with the result that in speed, comfort, and cheapness there is no other route to compare with it. Carriage ol Goal During Strike. The British peoples in all parts of tlm world aro for these reasons vitally concerned with the prosperity of the industries conducted in tho British Isles. Since that is tho best market for their goods, it is to their advantage to do what in thorn lies to increase British wealth by mutual trading. What, then, is tho problem ? Tho seven months' coal stoppage inevitably had disastrous results on practically every branch of British manufacture, and it also restricted in consequence tho purchasing power of the British people. The first indication of improved conditions was furnished hv shipping, and by a curious anomaly this was directly traceable to the coal stoppage. A largo amount of tonnage had to be chartered for bringing coal into the ports of tho greatest coal ex-porting country, with tho result that every idle ship that could be speedily recommissioned was at once sent to sea. Tramp freights soared upwards, and though shipowners realised that they would fall as soon as tho coalmines were working once more, thev came to the conclusion that they would probably not return to tho abnormally low levels which wero reached in tho early months of tho year. The prospect was thus opened of shipping onco more returning to an economic basis after a long period of unprecedented depression, during which mo*t voyages of tramp vessels were made either at a loss or without profit. Orders for Hew Ships. In these circumstances, a good many shipowners were encouraged to jd»t» orders for new ships. They were badly needed, for 46 per cent, of the shipyard workers were unemployed. Since the end of the coal stoppage contracts .have been placed with British shipbuilders for vessels of about 750,000 gross tons. Those orders have already begun to react favourably on the #teel industry, which was more heavily hit by the coal. stoppage than anv other, with the conseq-jenon that, while there were 147 furnaces. Wowing in the spring, only five were in Operation when the strike came to an end. There arc many other indications that the tide in the British Isles has turned. 1 The purchasing power 'of neighbouring European countries, as well as of the North and South American States, m particular, is increasing and, generally, the outlook ;is improving, with a satisfactory reaction on the unemployment problem. As a result of the Imperial Conference, leaders of industry are looking with more confidence to the development of interImperial trade than to the recovery of norms! economic conditions on the European Continent, with its high tariff Walls, But at present the British worker is far more dependent for hi® wages Ofi the demand oi foreign mrkela than on the demand of the Dominion 'and Colonial markets. Of RfitMi exports, m has been stated, she Empire took goods of the value of £561,239,000, while foreign countries bought goods of the value of £566,258,000, America still ranking' neat to India a* the best.'customer, with Germany nest in order. ' These are condition* which an increasing number of industrial leader# wish to tee changed, and for that reason they are attaching increased Importance to the work of Eropir# development and Empire settlement, and are watching wills lively, sympathy the activities oi the. Empire Marketing Boned. High Standard of Living, Their position Is one of some difficulty. Owing to political and industrial circumstance beyond their, control, tlwy are struggling to bear.the harden of unprecedented Rational and local laa-ation, which now amounts to neatly £1,000,000,000 annually, »pan from tfw : contribution which they have to make t-» such social tervkm »* ane*f.(doynw.;t »»« | health insurance. • Great Britain U now supporting a standard of Irving which | is higher than that of any other country in the Old World. Whether thai standard | of living can be maintained m the yean to come depends in large ist-asore on the extent to which British industry is sup-' ported in the oversea* markets of list Empire. There" ss, happily, an increasing community of sentiment tbtoujtnont the British Commonwealth ».<u the pfoh lei;js concerned ifc.th «d hour* of work. The dtwl«pn»f-t •- interim p«sal tratk-. apati from all nth»r »ri* #wtages, will tend to. *t»hib** the press**.*' high level of wftgot of industry tnmi<.'. oui the Kmpii'e. :i«d by t'lvcrv, <■* fVimpie. M-.il improve '.««»• state of t.'s* depaeaaad worker* »U#«ib«fs;