PROTECTION IN TRADE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21357, 5 December 1932, Page 11

PROTECTION IN TRADE

OTTAWA AGREEMENTS

BIRMINGHAM'S ENTHUSIASM SUPPORT FOR EMPIRE PRODUCE [BY telegraph—OWN cortif.spondent] WELL!NG TON, Sunday "Since the days of Joseph Chamberlain Birmingham has been intensely imperialistic and intensely protectionist, consequently it is only in accordance with tradition that the results of the Ottawa Conference should bo greeted with enthusiasm in our city," said Mr. J. Thacker, a member of the Birmingham City Council, and retired head of one of (be city's biggest manufacturing businesses, who arrived by the Hualiine yesterday on his third visit to New Zealand. Birmingham, said Mr. Thacker, was dependent upon the sale of its manufactures for its prosperity, and realised that it was in its interests to have duties levied upon foreign goods entering the United Kingdom. "The strongest opposition to the Ottawa pact," he continued, "is to be found in the north in Lancashire and Yorkshire, but they are gradual I}' coming round to realise that the advantages they derive from having raw materials come in free do not nearly compensate for competition from Continental and Asiatic countries, which pour cheap cotton and woollen goods into the country. Lancashire, in particular, is in a very bad way, and something will have to be done to bring relief. "The fact that the, first exhibition of the Empire Marketing Board was held in Birmingham was sufficient to indicate the city's deep-rooted predisposition toward Empire produce." Mr. Thacker has had a lengthy connection with local government and poor relief work, and in regard to a cabled statement that unemployment had been recognised as a permanent problem in Britain, he said it was generally recognised that the time would soon come when shorter hours would have to be worked in order to distribute work.

Birmingham, England's second city, was probably the most progressive city in the Old Country at present, said Mr. 1 hacker. With about 1200 trades being carried on it was also the world's most comprehensive industrial area and, although the effects of the depression were felt, they were not so upparcnt as in most other places. In addition to having the largest municipal gas undertaking in the world, Birmingham contained two super-elect tic power stations, one being a selected station under the central Kngland grid scheme. This scheme was practically completed, and it was hoped to follow it with a similar grid system for the supply of gas. Birmingham was already having its mains stretching for many nules to neighbouring boroughs. With regard to transport, Mr. Thacker said buses were gradually replacing electric trams in Birmingham, although trams were retained for certain services for which it was realised they were more suitable. Birmingham was also, the centre of a network of canals, and although many of the branch canals had fallen into disuse, some of them were still used to transport produce and coal.