TOUR ABROAD

Southland Times, Issue 22217, 9 January 1934, Page 9

TOUR ABROAD

MR AND MRS A. CUNDALL

BRITAIN’S IMPROVED POSITION

U.S.A. LESS FORTUNATE

After an absence from Invercargill of nearly nine months, Mr and Mrs A. Cundall, North road, returned last week from a tour of the British Isles, the Continent of Europe and the United States. Yesterday Mr Cundall gave to a Southland Times reporter some interesting sidelights on his tour. In his opinion England was in a great deal better way economically than the United States, which he described as being in a very' bad way still. Mr and Mrs Cundall left Invercargill in April of last year and arrived in England in May. They spent over five months in the British Isles, covering the territory from Land’s End to John o’ Groats. On and off they were about two months in London. The World’s Clearing House. “There is no doubt that London is the world’s clearing house at the present time,” Mr Cundall said. “I found the South of England and the lower part of the Midlands very busy. Here are situated the motor and bicycle factories, while many other smaller industries which at one time were established in the North of England are now situated within easy distance of London.

“In the northern districts, from Sheffield onwards, with the exception of the Yorkshire woollen industry, business was very quiet. I may add that this applies also to the South, of Scotland as far as Glasgow. For instance, in many cases the big shipbuilding yards had no ships on the stocks and were more or less at a standstill, having only a few small repair jobs in their docks. “The Lancashire cotton industry was only running at a third of its capacity,” Mr Cundall went on. “That trade is being severely hit by Japanese competition for low quality cotton goods manufactured for the coloured population of the world. The loss of business is not felt so much in England as in India, China, the Straits Settlements, Africa and similar countries. Coal Industry Picking Up. “The coal industry was very quiet when I arrived,” added Mr Cundall, “but as time progressed I witnessed quite a revival in foreign orders for coal. An additional factor in bringing about increased prosperity in the coal trade has been the manufacture of oil from coal. Very large plants are being erected all over the North of England to further the output of this product. In passing, I might mention that while I was in England a trial of this fuel was made by a racing motorist, his car attaining a speed of 106 miles an hour. He estimated the fuel cost of this trial run at threepence! The Smithfield Market.

“I visited Smithfield on a number of occasions,” Mr Cundall said, “and I was amazed by the vast aggregation of carcasses which are dealt with during a day. It was a revelation, also, to see the efficient manner in which they are transported by road all over England. Eight-ton insulated trucks are used for this purpose. I am perfectly satisfied that the New Zealand sheepfarmer has nothing to learn from the Home producer, and that our system of handling dairy products is to be preferred to that existing in any part of the British Isles.

“The British Government’s greatest concern at present is, of course, to make the position of its own fai’ming community more secure, and that can only be brought about by increased prices for their products, and also to check to a certain extent the tremendous importation of frozen meat and dairy produce from all sources. ‘But is the British farming industry on a large enough scale to justify drastic action in this direction?’ asked the reporter.

“Britain finds approximately 6G per cent, of her own meat requirements,” Mr Cundall replied. “That is a fact not generally realized, but it is true neverthless. Britain could not supply her home wants any more than that, but she would like to get more for what she does produce. Rents for leasehold land in England are in the vicinity of £2 to £3 an acre per annum. They have a very short summer, so that concentrated foods, such as oilcake, oilmeal and so on, have to be fed to the stock for at least seven months of the year, while stock also has to be housed. It will be seen, then, that the cost of production there is far from light, counter-balancing their nearness to the markets. Scotland’s Busy Jute Trade.

“The southern part of Scotland has been affected industrially in much the same manner as the North of England,” Mr Cundall continued. “Dundee, the centre of the jute trade, I found very busy, as were all of the small east coast ports of Scotland. Here is a thriving industry, with hundreds of ‘drifters’ putting in an appearance daily with large catches of herrings which are salted and packed in barrels for export. “The Irish live stock industry has been severely handicapped by the import duty which was imposed by the British Government some time ago. I found the Irish people, speaking generally, very unsettled and dissatisfied with conditions as they were, and am quite sure that an amicable settlement would be much appreciated by both countries.” The Shrunken Pound.

Visits were then paid to France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Belgium, Germany and Morocco. Travelling in some places proved most expensive. “In Belgium, Holland and Germany the New Zealand pound was worth only about ten shillings, so I need hardly add that we did not dally long in those countries!” Mr Cundall said.

“We left Liverpool in November, returning via Boston, New York, Chicago and San Francisco, sailing finally from Los Angeles. Conditions in America were very, very bad, and I think it will be a long time before they recover from the depression. Between 14 and 15 million people were on the unemployed when we were there. Britain is well round the corner, the majority of her industries being busy, but American industry is almost at a standstill. Things are very cheap there just now. “On our return we called at Hawaii, Fiji and Samoa. We encountered Invercargill friends, Mr Gordon Reed, Mr A. W. Jones and Mr G. Tapper at Samoa. They were on their way across to Los Angeles.”