“NO NEED TO DESPAIR”

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18255, 25 November 1933, Page 5

“NO NEED TO DESPAIR”

JAPANESE COMPETITION DISCUSSION TN COMMONS (Received Nov. 25, 11 a.m.) LONDON, Nov. 23. Mr. L. Thorp, in- the Addrcss-in-Itoply debate, protested against the Government’s failure to take vigorous steps to save the Lancashire trade from Japanese competitors. Lieut.-Com. F, M. Astbury said that unless something was done immediately there would not be a mill working in Lancashire in five years. Negotiations with the Japanese were futile. A high tariff should lie imposed to compensate for the low standard of living in Japan and the depreciation of the yen. Lieut. Com. Astbury demonstrated liis point by showing members samples of Japanese cottons and artificial silks sent to Britain, tlie Colonies and the Dominions, and sold at 75 per cent below the Lancashire costs of production.

Mr. Walter Runeiman, president of the Board of Trade, replying, said: “This debate will he read in other parts of the world. .Let us not give the impression that we are done and finished. We are not. Our ingenuity has not come to an end, either in organising industries, finance, or international arrangements. There is no need to despair for employment in Lancashire. Exports in 1913 showed a slight improvement over those of 1932, and the Government and industrial negotiators arc acting in unison.” The Daily Express recalls that a delegation of Japanese merchants has been here for two months on a mission to discuss with British merchants and the Board of Trade officials a scheme for sharing Empire markets. Apparently no conversations are possible until Japan has settled with India.

The Express says exports for the first eight months of 1951 were: To Britain, £3.651.916: to Australia. £2,556,830; and to New Zealand, £323,981.