BRITAIN'S HANDICAP

New Zealand Times, Volume XLV, Issue 10432, 10 November 1919, Page 6

BRITAIN'S HANDICAP

SHACKLED BY WAR HOW AMERICAN BUSINESS IS PROFITING. "Our American cousins havo not been idle during the war in the matter of motor-car manufacture and trade," said a well-known motor garage manager to a "Times" reporter last week. "They hare certainly speeded things up in a remarkable manner, and the English makers will havo to hustle some to overtake the Americans and re-estab-lish the trade. The British manufacturers have, of course, been very seriI ously handicapped. Many great manu- [ facturing plants havo tor the four yeara of war been transformed into munition factories; at any race thoy have not been utilised for the purpose for which they were constructed and the businesses established—the manufacture of motor-cars, motor cycles, bicycles, and all the accessories necessary thereto. They have been practically out of the running—out of the trade. The Americans, always alert and keenly alive to trade possiI bilities. saw, and took full advantage of. the opportunity, and they have I worked hard to extend their trado in this connection and capture as mans markets as possible. | "There was not the same national call on the manufacturing industries of America as there was on all British concerns, and whilo they prov... materials for war the Americans at the same time kept a keen eye-on the trade. The result has been that they have practically ousted Britain from many. markets, to which Britain has confidently looked for years, and, as I havo said, it will take years—many years, I believe—for the British firms to establish themselves and. rehabilitate their trade. There isn't much sentiment in after all, and trade progress is a goal all nations are striving for." "Is it that the American products are superior to those of Britain?" was asked. "No, decidedly no I" was the emphatic response. "The Americans are more adaptable—that is all. • Where an English firm experiments thoy will have exhaustive tests, and tests again, and will satisfy themselves first as to the value of the improvement. The Americans, on the other hand, will make the experiments—and try them on the public. Sometimes they succeed^—and all is well. Sometimes they fail—and they simply get busy and try something else. The American manufactures, like the Americans, are more adaptable—that is all. They are not superior to tho British manufactures. The British makes are stronger and heavier, and last better, but the market is the American's first objective, and lie is getting there. "Oh, yes, Britain will 'come again'— of that there is no doubt in my mind. But her trade has ihad a great dislocation, and it will tako some time — years, I believe—before she regains what she has lost in that respect. '