TRADE OF BRITAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19719, 19 August 1927, Page 13

TRADE OF BRITAIN.

GREAT RECOVERY MADE.

EXPANSION OF EXPORTS.

MORE WORKMEN EMPLOYED.

SAVINGS OF PEOPLE INCREASE. [BY TELEGRArH. —SPECIAL REPORTER.] WELLINGTON. Thursday. The remarkable recovery which Britain has made as the world's leading manufacturing country in the years succeeding tho war was emphasised by the Prime Minister, Mr. Coates, in the House this evening, when he quoted production and other statistics for the years before and after the war. The speech of the member for Auckland Central, Mr. W. E. Parry, said the Prime Minister, had left the impression that England was down and out, and that she had lost her position in the world's markets. Mr. Parry seemed to have overlooked what the Old Country had gone through, and that a few years ago the United Kingdom represented a huge arsenal. During the war the non-com-' batant countries had had the opportunity to fill the markets previously held by Britain, and since she undertook reconstruction Britain had not had a clear run on account of industrial disturbances. Growing Manufactures. Notwithstanding the enormous difficulties under which Britain had laboured she had accomplished what might seem the impossible. Taking the figure of 100 as" representing Britain's 1913 export trade the fluctuations in succeeding years were quoted as follows: —1919, 54.9; 1920, 70.9; 1921, 49.8; 1922, 68.9; 1923, 77; 1924, 80.6; 1925, 80.1; 1926, 71.5. Tho Prime Minister added that 1926 was the vear when the effects of the strike were felt. It had to be remembered, also, that in 1913 Great Britain's exports were not all fully manufactured goods, but to-day she had more intense manufacture, more labour employed and more completely manufactured goods going out than in 1913. A fair estimate was that Great Britain's export trade was now within 15 per cent, in value of what it was before the war. In 1913 tho total i,mount deposited in post office savings banks, national saving certificates and building societies was £291,000,000, while in 1925 the amount was £981,000,000. The Shipping Position. The average monthly production of coal in metric tons in 1913 was 24,336,000 tons, in 1925 it was 20,694.000 tons, and in 1927 24,663,060 tons. The number of persons employed since January last had steadily risen from 952,000 to 1,013,000. Mr. Coates went on to quote production figures for the principal industries of Britain, all of which had shown a marked increase in recent years, showing that Britain was steadily regaining her export trade. Emphasising how Great Britain had recovered her position in the shipping world, Mr. Coates said that in 1913 British shipping totalled 72,000,000 tons, or 62 per cent, of the world total. Her war losses reduced her total tonnage to 49,000,000 tons in 1921, but in the next year she had recovered to 65,000,000 tons and then to 75,000,000 tons, the 1924 total being 79,000,000 tons. In 1925 the world's total tonnage was 118,000,000 tons, of which Britain held 80,000,000. or 67 per cent. Comparison With America. Comparing British trade with that of the United States, Mr. Coates said Britain was still in the lead. The latest figures available, those for 1925, showed that British imports were valued at £1,323,000.000, compared with the United States' total of £869,547,000. The respective export values were £773,000,000 and £1,010,000.000. Great Britain's recovery was also shown by a comparison of the exports of some of the principal industries for the first six months of 1925 and 1927.

Mr. Coates said the progress which had been made was extraordinary and, in the absence of industrial disturbances on the same scale as had been experienced in the past, nothing could prevent Great Britain from retaining her position as the leading industrial country of the world.