BETTER TIMES

Southland Times, Issue 23141, 6 March 1937, Page 3

BETTER TIMES

Industry Prosperous “CANNOT BE PERMANENT” Many subjects of importance to manufacturers, industrialists, and those engaged in general commerce were dealt with by Lord McGowan, chairman and managing-director of Imperial Chemical Industries, in an address to members of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. Lord McGowan spoke of the prosperity being experienced by Great Britain and the Dominions, and laid emphasis on the fact that this prosperity must not be regarded as permanent, and that, therefore, it was essential that industrial institutions and commercial organizations should put their houses in order and equip them with up-to-date plant out of their surplus earnings today, so that in times of recessions of trade they would have the lowest operating cost. Willing to Help New Zealand Stating that his company was spending over £1,000,000 in the erection of an alkali plant at Adelaide, he said that what was done in Australia would be done in New Zealand when the economics justified such an action. His company was willing to assist New Zealand in the solution of the country’s industrial problems. “At the present time almost every industry of consequence is working nearly to capacity,” said Lord McGowan in discussing the prosperity in Britain. “As regards steel, our basic industry, the demands are so great that they cannot be supplied from home production and we are forced to import from the Continent. The production in Great Britain last year beat all previous records. Ship building is very busy at the moment and likely to continue so for some time to come. Here, again, it is interesting to reflect on the many industries affected by the building of, say, a 10,000-ton steamer.

“The artificial silk trade is booming. The woollen industry is good. Even the textile industry, which for many years has been in the doldrums, shows signs of recovery in certain lines. The motor trade was never more busy, and that sure sign of prosperity—railway traffic—has been showing improvement almost every week for a considerable time past. Exports have improved.

Time to Prepare For Future Quite apart from the huge expenditure on armaments, he believed that to a large extent the depression from which the world was emerging was due to the ever-widening gap between the

wage of the producer of the commodities—and he used# that in a broad sense —and that of the industrialist; that gap was lessening in consequence of the rise in the prices of commodities such as wheat, cotton, rubber and metals, and the producer was able to purchase more of the products of the manufacturer, and this gave hope for a continuance of the present state of

prosperity. “You will see from what I have said,” added Lord McGowan, “that the present industrial picture is a pretty one, but we should not be unduly carried away. The present era of prosperity cannot be permanent and we shall in time face a diminishing volume of business. Therefore, it is essential that industrial corporations should take ad-

vantage of the present prosperity to ensure that they put their house in order, that they should, out of today’s surplus earnings, equip themselves with the most up-to-date plant procurable, so that they shall have the lowest operating cost possible against the day when they see a recession of trade, and they will continue to be competitive with the rest of the world.”