COMPETITION OF SILVERUSING COUNTRIES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10625, 21 March 1896, Page 7

COMPETITION OF SILVERUSING COUNTRIES.

THE DANGER TO BN&LISH INDUSTRY.

The following extracts from a paper rend befove the British Association at Ipssvich by Mr B. S. Gundry, published in the " Bimetallisb " for January, puts ths danger of competition from silver ■ using countries in a forcible manuer:— . The gold man, measuring prices in gold, says all thiugs (including silver) are falling. Th« silver man, measuring things in silver, gays gold ia rising, and everything'else remains as it was. For it is a remarkable fact that this rejected,, scorned, depreciated, and altogether tiresome and superabundant metal has retained its purchasing power ore; commodities in silver-using countries. All commodities (silver inoluded) have fallen in respect to the Western .standard — gold; but all (except gold) have stood nearly still in respect to the Eastern standard—silver. Unless, therefore, we are prepared Co assume a general conspiracy among the products of; the world— mineral, agricultural, and industrial, —to fall away aad leave gold standing, we must admit that even this sacred metal haa obeyed a common law. The effect has, at any rate, been { to dirida the commercial world. Instead of j oue money it has now two ; and the divergence in value between, these two is responsible for increasing disabilities on the part of the Westera proauoer and increa-.iug competition on the part of bis Eastern rival, which threaten to subject us to increasing stress. I have here before ms, for instance, a J&panm&de shirt. It is of goad quality, hand-made. That shirt cost 2dol. In the days of the fourshilliug dollar, therefore, to go no farther back, it would have co3t 83, could nob have coinijeted with an EuglUh-made can, and would, have no existence. It stitl coots 2dol; bat the fall of the dollar to 2s reduces its tquivalent cost in English money to 4s, aud it caauot be made in England at that price. Sir W.JSarcourt and other advocates of cheap prices may say, complacently, that it 13 very pleasant to buy a shirt for 4s. But how abour, che English operative &ud the Euglisb. serapstceaa, subjected, by no fault of their own, to an impossible handicap ? For this Japanese shirt uaeaaa the extinction of the export of shirt* f com England to the E&at. 16 has already made its way to Singapore, where it has completely ousted the English article, and may po»sibly appear ev«n in England to lower s'.ill,further.the .earnings of the. British workwoman.

i"ivo yeara sga thare waa a gceat trade in matches from Europs tu the Easb. Bven England exported £21,000 worth in 1887. That trade is now extinct. Not only does Japan supply herself aud supply China, but she supplies the Straits SefctlaiuontH and India, and sends large quantities avea to Australia. The eiport ot matches from Kobs reached ,—

In-1892 171,800 cases of 600doz 18a3 ... ... 245,390 u » I^9J ... ... -2ta,776 ii .1 First half 1895 ICU.4SO u ■■

The relative prices of Japanese and European matches in Singapore are l+idol to 17idol, against 25d0l to 32d01. Is it surprising chat tae export of matches irom Japan reached last year the great total of 3,800,000 yan ? The export of Eoglieu umbreliaa to the East used to ba considerable. China alone took £37,500 worth so recently as 1889. Bat the ©hineae " silvern" youta being asked now 7dol for aa article which used to cost him 3idol when the dollar was 4-b, turns instead to Jupan, which is content to supply him at the old rate. The same principle applies, of course, to the cheaper kiudti, auti au th« export: of Suglifh umbrellas to China has fallen to £4-300; while Japan sent 362,000 last year, tu taka tha pifti-e of those we canuos supply on "silrer" terras. Nor does tiao recoil atop there. Umbrellas usad to bj exported from this conatry iu hundreds of thousands to Singapore; but English makera cannot compute uudnr y the handicap which gold monometallism has imuosed. Japanese umbrellas cm ba laid down there wholesale at. from 15dol to sdol a dozen. At a4s dollar ttii« would have meant 60s to 20s; it now means about 30d to 10.i. The umbrellus are, of cuuess, second-rate ; but English make,3 can provide nothing like them at the uric.", and the net result is that instead of £4SMO worth which they imported from us in 1864, the Straits took only £980 worth last year.

I was shown lately by a London banker a couy of a letter from Bombay, dated May 16, eaymg :

We shall be obliged if you can give us introductions to respectable Japanese or European firms in Yokohama and Kobe who could execute orders for umbrellas, matches, sulphuric acid, hardware, &c. We have imported these articles largely from Europe for some years, but now find the Japanese makers are gradually running English and Oontineotnl makers out of the market, and we are consequently anxious to gat. a share of the business.

.. The'eame. thing is true of a whole o&tejory of other articles—lamps, portmanteaus, boots, hate, and pocket-handkerchiefs to wit. Press copying paper can be bought for three-quarters of a yeu par ream iu Japau, which is the equivalent or, say, In 6d in EuglUh money; and aa the J&paneae paper is perfectly suitable, as well a< a great deal cheaper, it ia sot only usei now throughout the. East, bat is making way hers, where inferior paper costs 2« 3d, . Here, in a copy of an English newspaper—the Siam Free Press-T-priuted in Bangkok on Japanese paper. The bbw to the English papec-making iudustry may, as the editor romirks, not be immedittf'ly fatal, but the example is being copied in other quarters, with a saving of 30 per cent, upou Kuglinh pricei. To.e export of Huglisb. pap«r has already fallen off a quarter oi a million sterling during the.last five years, and saems likely .to be extinguished altogether before long as regards the Eist. It would not be surprising even to liml the tables turned. Some oue—l think it was Tbe Times—said latsly that they wanted prices to become cheaper and ever cheaper : a copy of The Times printed on Japanese paper would be an object lesson in aheap prices indeed.

Caiaa possesses, of course, as a silver-using country, the same advantages as Japan ; and a late number of the North Chin* Herald aueutious thnt an Euglish firm (liessra Moutrie and Co.) find tbey can make pianos in Shanghai for one-fourth less than they can import them. 'A'be wrest plank, tuning plate, keya, gtriugx, »ud one or two other it»m3 are imported from Europe, but all the woodwork is procured from Japan ; and they can produce tor tie. 180 mi instrument which would cost, at the present rat:: of exchange, about tls. 240 to import from England. When the tael was worth 6s the advantage would have been the other way.

Let us tako another "commodity" which wiil appeal to the sympathies of every Englinhman—beer. In a circular issued by a Shanghai wine merchant, the following relative pricia are quoted:—Bass, 17dol equal to 345; Jajianojo, lOdo), equal to 20s; Shanghai brewed, 8c!ol, equal to 16]. Waat is the result ? The export of English beer to China has fallen off in 10 ye.-.rs by 30 per cent, although the foreign population h« increased 50 per cent. Twenty yeara as;o 8.50d0l would have sufficed to reimburse tha English brewer his 34% but only those with whom dollars are exceptionally abundant care to give 17dol! The pictuw might be extended to include India, where Bass h being largely supplanted by the produce of Mussuorio and Nynee Thai. Indian breweries did not at first pay, but as the cost (in silver) of Buglnh beer became greater they became remunerative, and brewing is carried on there now on a large scale.

We have not yet quite come to having our oeean-goiug steamers built in ths East, as Sir Thomas Sutherland suggests may yet be the case; but smaller craft are being freely built at Shanghai, Hongkong, Kobe, Singapore, and even in Bangkok. It is less surprising after thin to learn that 'steamers trading to the' East are beginning to have necessary repairs exeouted iu China or Japau, the Baving in wages alone being as between 7o and 2s 6d a day for skilled labour. Oq the old footing of a four-shilling yen the competition would have' been between 7s and sa, and at that rate the superior vigour and capacity of the English workman would have enabled him, probably, to hold his own. If we reflect that the outlay on a single steamer may range from £1200 to £2000 per annam we Mi r> 11 realise that a considerable suin may thus ba withdrawn from English Industry. Nor does the -rivalry end there. A (hipping company whos« steamers ply regularly between London and Yokohama is about substituting Chinese for English crews. Here is the basis of the calculatioo : — ■■ ■ Chinese and Japanese. Knfflish. | Superior seamen,., &c. " am. B! $20 a month=£2 :£i 103 and £5 i Ord'ry sea- . . men', &c. $15 ii =£1 10s £310s and £315s Native seamen are fed on 91 a day, while Buglish seamen cost Is lid. Under the .Id parity between silver and gold the saving would not have arisen. And this brings me to another feature connected with shipping—coal. Singapore is, as we all kuow, a great coaling station for east-ward-bonnd ships, ami usud to be a great mart for Welsh and Australian coal. But Japanese coal can be laid down there now at rates with which Cardiff finds it hard-to'compete. The 371,000 tons of Welsh coal that were shipped to Singapore 10 years ago had fallen last year to 207,000; the deficiency, and mtich more— for there i» an enormously increased demand,— being supplied by Japan. The calcula'ion is simple : Cardiff coal costs at the wharf 11 7«tt>), while Japßneae can be delivered for 7.50d01. The P. and O. have, I believe, contracted for Japanese coal to be delivered at 5 9(Mol a ton. Taking the dollar even at Zs 2(1, and allowing 20 per cent, (which is extravagant) for inferiority to Welsh coal, we have hete an equivalent of about 15s against, nay, 20s 6d (10s 6d plus 10s freisliSO.tar...Caidi£Lgoal. Anatliw aoteiUv

standing tb»t tho layiu((-dowu oo»t of Cardiff coal in Singapore has been reduced by nearly 10j a ton ia the last 10 years by redaction of freight. Opportunity m»ybe takurs, whil« wo we in the neighbourhood of the Straits, to note othtr instauoes in which the yellow man with his white metal i» beating " gold " produce out of the market. There uwd to be a great export of Portland cement from Eagl»ud to Japan. Not only is this at an end, bat the tide has turned. Ten yearn ago 38,847 barrel! were shipped to Singapore. Last year 28,340 only were ssrifc, and the deficiency was supplied by Japan. The silver p«C3 iu Singapore is ilightly higher than 10 years ago; but whereas -3.Wdolat-.3s 7JW meant 12s +d, 3.40d0l at 2« 2d ace worth, barely 7s 6d, and English cement will presumably share the fate ot the other industries named.

Tne process beginning in cotton manufac- ] tares. Japanese cloth has already made its ! appearance on the Siugipore m&rkt;C; and »n | English merchant wntei f<oui that great trade centre; —" If Japau is going to Hupply this market with Turkey red cambric (which, as you i know, is a great article of coboutnption) at a level of 2.85d0l for 61b, we fear there is a ' complete end of Glasgow dyes, an there has | already been of umbrellas aud matches." I ! think it in Sir Henry Meyaey-Thompsou who remarks that the ■ opponents of bimetallism seem convinced that England must always produce " some'liing," evun when the manufacturers and producers haws disappeared. Parhaps this "something" refers to machinery ; but, according to the latest account;, even trie new cotton mills are getting their spinning machinery made in Japan. Take putrgiqum again, and although it does not affect us it may be refresting to find, as in the case of coal, an element of variety from the monotonous menace of China aud J*pan. The competing petroleum in the' Straits comes ! maiuly from Sumatra, which, is depressing the Russian trade from Bataon ; and the two together have practically closad the m&rkot agaiaftt " gold " America. One of the chief products of the Malayan Pcuimuia n, as we all know, tin; and here are some ;• tat'mtics of the zztnt for 12 motitha ending July 31, at intervals of a decade :— ■ ■ ■•■■•' 1884-C. 1894-5. Shipments to Great Britain 252,581 ... 441,419 To America M.iffl ... 12ri,H74 The Continent... „. ... !»,512 ... 217,113 . Pecub.,. ... V,. 303,000 ... 781,608 Price $30 = £93 per toh. Price 536 = £B!i. A pecul is 133i-lb. Transkts<l into English, therefore, these li^arei ineati that the export of tin from the Straits rose from 18,000 tons in 1884-5 to 46,000 ton-3 in 1894-5; the silver. price being higher at the lattnr date than the former. Exporting more tin and getting a I slightly better price is, from the Straits point of view, satisfactory business ; bat the Corniah miner tells a different tato. The output from Eogltfh mines has not yet seriously decreased. It wan in " 1864. 1874, . 1884. 1894. 10,108 ... 0,942 .. 9,300 ... 9,000 tons. t But it is, I believe, no exaggeration to s»y thtt the iuduslry is being done to death through inability to struggle against the lessening price. Let us suppose a London corn merohant, who haa heard that there is corn to be sold iu the Punjaub. Hio firat step must evidently be to chiL'ge his sovereigns into rupees. Twentyfive years ago £1 wns worth only Ra.lo. The Indian ryot wanted then what he wants now— say, Ra.l7—for a quarter of wheat. To get these Rs.l7 at the rate of Rs.lo = £1, the merchant had to give £1 14*. Carriage, freight, and other expenses brought the cost up to, eay, £2 10s. Indian wheat could obviously, therefore, not be sold in BDgland for lesa, and a« a matter of fact we find that ths average price of whe&t in Mark Lane during the years 1867-77 WRB £2 Us 6d.

Let .us skip 20 years, and see how the operation works out now.

Gold having to do alone the work whioh was done formerly by gold and silver combined, has risen, and will buy much more of anything, than before. It wilt buy more rupees, and the merchant can now get R«. 18 foe his sovereign instead of R's 10; bo that, as the ryot is still content wijh 17 rupee.*— each one of which will still buy him as much of the necessaries of lifo—ludiau wheat can be bought for, say, 17 multiplied by Is l£d equal 19<i, iustend of 17 multiplied by 2» equals £1 14s. Add 6s for charges, and you have the price of Indian wheat at tbe dock side at the present day.

Sir William H&rcourt looks upon cheapness as a boon unalloyed, and congratulates the labourer on being able to obtain his commodities at a less price. The stress which it is assumed will be put on workmen, by ths rise of prices, is indeed urged as a reason against currency reform. I fear rather that it ia upon the labourer the stress of falling prices is about to recoil. Agricultural wages have fallen, though, inadequately to the fall in corn; but tbe deoline in factory wagen has no far been slight, and it seemo to flow, inevitably front the premises we have been examniiuf, that either prices must go up or wages mußb corns down, or employment must decrease. We are tolß, ore rotunda, that England's imperial interests are -bound up in gold. It appears to me, rnther, that our colonies are suffering from . tha, gold epidemic, like ourselves.

Japan is thwarting ludian as well as English mills, and Australian as well as Cardiff coal. Mr Hnyaahi mentioned not long ago, in an interesting address before the London Chamber of Commerce, that she is beginning to manufacture woollen goods ; .and H.M.'a consul in Kerea speaks favourably of samples that were offared there last year for sale. Woollen'yarn for these manufactures haa been imported hitherto from Europe; raw wool chiefly from Australia and, to a less extent, frpni China and India. Austra'iu has been congratulating herself on the appearance of a new consumer ; but the qucotion arises whether she hus not really to fear the advent of- a new competitor; for China exported last year 270,000awt of wool; and this trade bus grown up entirely within the list few yuars under the stimulus of widening exchange: It has been discovered that wool can be profitably brought down by camels Jryni the p!*ius of Mongolia. It i« of low grade, but it finds a market; and iC the export baß attained these figures under uuch supreme difficulties of transport, to what extent msy it not be developed when the Siberian railway is finished P

The financial stress which Australia has had to endure lately has been due chiefly to the fall of prices, which has sffeated her in common with the rest of the " gold " world

CaoAdo., is, of course, a similar cose, though she has escaped a similar crisis. The price of her produce bad fallen, and her wheat export has been 'checked. An important article of Canadian export is lumber, and a promising trade sesmed growing op with Ctiiua under the old parity befcweeu the precious metals. But it IE now nlmost killed, for the reason that whereas 1,000 000ft oould be laid down in Shanghai for Tla. 27,0p0.whentbetaelwas worth 5s 3d, the name quantity co*ts Tls. 34,000 now tha tael is. only worth 3s; aud as the Chin.v msn can buy wood from Japan at about the former price, he naturally gets it thence, or floats it 2000 miles down the Yangtze in mighty rafts from Szeshuen. Asia has been spoken of lately in Canada as a possible outlet for her matches. It will be seen, from what has gone before, that she is more likely to be flooded with Japanese Moritomos.

The cheapness, be it remembered, is coufined to the West. The silver man, unconscious of change, is paying the same as before. The London banker, as- Sir D. Barbour has expressed it, may be satisfied that it is silver which rises and falls; but, "to the miud of the Indian ryot, the rupee, instead of the pound i( Eterling, is ths one fixed point in an eveftchanging world, and gold rists and falls in price in his bazaar like the most vulgar of marketable commodities." She more clearly we perceive that the sanctity of gold is the outcome of local legislation, the more readily, perhaps, we may sdrnifc th» wisdom of re-establishing the joint titaudard under which the commerce of the world was formerly carried on. And the relief which has attended the slight rapprochement that circumstances have tended lately to bring about may serve as an earnest and an illustration of the immeasurably greater relief that would ensue from the restoration of the white metal to the full rights from which it has been deposed.