JAPANESE COMPETITION

Otago Witness, Issue 3443, 9 March 1920, Page 42

JAPANESE COMPETITION

REFUSING TO SHIVER. ": ■ & SOME QUESTIONS IN THE COMMONS. iF«OM Ooa Own qoBBEBPONDaux.) LONDON, November 27. Lieutenant-colonel Sir F.. Hall asked the President of the Board of- Trade whether his statement that Great Britain had nothing to fear from Japanese trade competition was based on comparative equality of labour costs in the two countries; what was the average daily wage of a skilled worker in this country, including war wages, compared with the daily wage of 6s now generally prevalent in Japan; what were the weekly hours of skilled workers in Japan compared with the 47-hours week now in force here; and in what way the Government proposed to ensure that British manufacturers should be enabled to hold their own in the face of Japanese competition in home and . foreign markets. while labour costs in Japain remained upwards of : « 150 per cent, lower than those obtaining in--Great Britain. Replying in the negative to. the first part of the question, Sir Auckland Geddes: added: "The daily rates of skilled! timeworkers in this country range in the majority of cases from about 10s to 15s on the basis of an eight-hour day. It is understood that skilled workers in Japan work on an average from 10 to 12 hours a day, and), according to information not yet officially confirmed, some of the highest-paid skilled Japanese workers are now in receipt of wages equal approximately to 9s a day, though I understand this is by no means general. There are, however, other factors! to be taken into account, and I see no reason at present to fear that British manufacturers will be unable to hold their own in competition with the Japanese. '"Sir F. Hall asked whether the House was to underetand that the statement the right hon. gentleman made that he did not eniver at the competiion between this country and Japan, was incorrect. Sir A. Geddes: It is quite right. I am not shivering at all. THIRSTING FOR BRITISH GOODS. Mr G. Terrell: Is it not a fact that the imports from Japan are increasing- enormously at prices with which British labour cannot compete? Is it not due to the low rate at whioh the Japanese labourer works? Sir A. Geddes: These things are not just as simple as that. "During the last five years this country was not producing practically at all certain lines of goods. Supplies ''were brought by merchants—the population of this country were demanding supplies of some sort —from the only places ■where they could be obtained. That led to an enormous increase of the importations into this country of goods from Japan. But there is a very great difference between • artificial increase of that sort and the belief that those goods will hold this market when they are once more subjected to British competition. There is every indication already that good markets which Japan got hold of during the war are thirsting and hungering for British goods.