GREAT BRITAIN'S TRADE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17317, 17 May 1918, Page 5

GREAT BRITAIN'S TRADE

A MARVELLOUS RECORD. OFFICIAL STATEMENT IN PARLIAMENT. Press Association-By Telegraph-Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.

ra • , „ LONDON, May 15. (Received May 16, at 7.30 p.m.) TWH nv!i ° f Commonß discussed the Board of Trade vote. Sir A. Stanley (President of the Board of Trade) drew attention to the enormous decline of Great Baton s imports Since the war, imports m 191/ were only two-thirds as much as the imports in 1913 : he estimated that this year they would be one-half those ?,L i j- ? y 1111)54 make allowance for mporte direct to France for the armies, I™* a ! n j resources had proved marvel- " before would have ventured to prophesy that Britain could have carried on as she has done with so little dis- ,.? r " J vva f a most valuable lesson, which ought to be borne in mind after the £"065,000,000, m Ld i ° P S? £398,000,000 (? £598,000,000), including re-exports Tliese figures were misleading as an indication of the growth of our m j I two r6as ons—nam e ly : the clianged character of the goods we are manufacturing and the changed price-level since the war. We must remember that a Large part of our lost trade was due to nff 1 '- 0 j^ duls with our enemies and Belgium and Rumania. He estimated that over one-half of Britain's workers today were doing Government work. He * H lat the aggregate output of ndustfy to-day was ; little less than before the war. This constituted a truly remarkperformancf- He estimated that there were now 1,500,000 more women enHh™ w ll ?u Was noi ' mall y men's work tnan before the war. The Government's control of the railf hee? thoroughly .satisfactory, but the bargain with the railway companies would show a loss to the State. (Received May 16. at 8 p.m.) Sir A. Stanley said that of all the big services the railways alone had not increased the charges for carriage of goods. Lrti -tu'u- f r the war "would be faced with higher wages and would not hpZT lhe , E ? me facility for securing men, because labour would be much scarcer than before the war. On the general policy of State control, Sir A. Stanley raid he thought it would be a great pity if economic—which meant unified— control were effected it should not be secured permanently to traders. dr^ G ,Tr m ! nt - was a more JtH™ , rationing scheme and also setting up a priority committee to determine coal consumption for industrial purposes. It would also ration gas and electricity, with a view to preventing Germany capture of the dye industrv. of foreign dye stuff would be controlled under license for 10 years.