BRITAIN TO-DAY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19129, 25 September 1936, Page 3

BRITAIN TO-DAY

EXTENf OF RECOVERY A HOUSING AND ARMAMENTS STATE tiE AGRICULTURE Britain’s recovery front the deprosMon. has 'been overemphasised, although there is ft fairly general air dr prosperity in the country, according to Mr. H. T. Fettle/.a Wellihgtoit -journalist, who returned % the Rehutiera after spending nearly IS iuoatlis Working lit'Fleet Street, and studying British agriculture.

“The partial- recovery lias 'been through accelerated internal spending, and unless this.is? hacked tip by a revival in the export trade, I would not fall 'Britain prosperous,” stated Mr. Forde.

Mr. Forde said-that British trade had-not vet returned to the pfe-slump basis. A* lot of money was being 'spent ■■ *; on housing and armaments, but indu*- mtry was not directly consumptive. The. biggbM industry whs house building, and when this came to an.end, it wri-- .... going to’ cause fairly widespread liardr ,>2 ship. ' • . . " ” “Just about as inefficient as it could 1 be,” commented Afr. Forde ou the sub-. ■ject of British agriculture. Pastures , were very poor, and the farmers seemed to be content to jog along buying, stock foods at a cost of £8,000,000 or • , £0,000,000 a year. “So long as they.—~ get a silbshly to insulate them from competition, they will be content, and the British consumer will muffer,“and havo to pay more than if'the British farmer was a reasonably efficient producer,” said Mr. Forde. . ...... ! DOAIESTIC COMPETITOR Mr. Forde said that under the Ottawa agreements New Zealand had undertaken to place her secondary in- - i dustries on an efficient basis, and at,. I the same time ensure that the United,. '. Kingdom manufacturer was placed on - 1 the basis of a domestic competitor. Britain had" protected the. British. ;.,, farmer, arid was trying to insulate him /,.; from competition abroad, and it was desirable that the Dominion farmer should be at least placed on the basis, ... of a domestic competitor. . , , ~ An improvement in the methods of. • marketing New Zealand dairy produce was suggested by Afr. Forde, who sftid - - greater niTOrts should bo made to par our butter! and to give it a distinctive * _ brand. “There should be greater co-opera-tion between the produce boards in London and the High Commissioner’s office, in the matter of publicity,” said- • Afr. Forde. “‘The publicity officer nr New Zealand House, Afr. H. B. T. Drew, is doing a lot of good work. hut the boards seem to work lone-j ;,i handed, arid are wasting a ' lot' of ■ money. Publicity would carry muc-h more'weight if it came through; the 8 y :; High Commlssibner, and specially that A., for dairy produce.”