A BUSINESSMAN ABROAD

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 75, Issue 6442, 5 November 1947, Page 7

A BUSINESSMAN ABROAD

35,000 MILES OF OVERSEAS TRAVEL CONDITIONS IN BRITAIN, CANADA AND AMERICA The Te Awamutu Junior Chamber of Commerce was addressed at its meeting in the Regent Lounge on Monday evening by Mr E. W. Sinton, an Auckland business-man who has recently returned from a business trip abroad. Mr Sinton entitled his talk ,“35,000 Miles of Overseas Travel,” and described conditions as he had found them in Britain, Canada, and U.S.A. '

Mr Sinton commenced his trip by air from New Zealand, stopping only at Canton Island and Honolulu and arriving at San Francisco after an extremely comfortable journey in one of the magnificent aircraft used on the Pacific service. The speaker said that contrary to general opinion airtravel, even on long ocean flights, was not tedious or tiring, and that everything is done to ensure the wellbeing of travellers. Mr Sinton described graphically the hazards of travelling by streamlined coaches from San Francisco’s magnificent aerodrome to the city proper, traversing narrow winding streets which the drivers negotiate at a disconcertingly high rate of speed! Leaving San Francisco Mr Sinton travelled on America’s most modern streamlined aluminium train to New York. He was much impressed with the immensity of New York’s Grand Central Station, and the adjacent aif terminal, where planes leave every few minutes for all parts of the American continent and elsewhere. It was an experience in itself, he remarked, to stand in the waiting room of the airport and hear the innumerable flight destinations of aircraft called over the loud speaker. Business and Glamour •

From New York Mr Sinton sailed on the Queen Elizabeth—“a beautiful ship”—to England, having as his fellow - travellers Ray Milland, and unwittingly Ann Howard, of cinematographic fame. An interesting point, and a tribute to the growing significance of the British film industry, was that the two stars were en route to the English film production centre, Elstree, to act in a film under the aegis of the J. Arthur Rank organisation. In London, Mr Sinton found that many of the bombed areas had been cleaned up and were now little different from pre-war London, although other areas such as that surrounding St. Pauls’ Cathedral still gave evidence of the damage that the “Heart of the Empire” sustained during six years of strife. The aftermath of the bombing, however, has resulted in the appearance of f flowers which have not been seenZn London since the Great Fire of lnoG.

The British Industries Fair was briefly described by Mr Sinton, who said the Fair was the finest exposition of British craftsmanship he had ever seen. A disappointing feature, however, was the dearth of buyers, most of whom were from Continental countries that lacked the currency backing for large purchases. This factor had proved disappointing from the point of view of trade, which was one of the purposes of the Fair. With reference to the privations of many sections of the populace in Britain, the speaker said the dispatch of food parcels from New Zealand was of’vital importance. The people of Britain were definitely “up against it,” although in many homes a misleading impression was given due to the extreme hospitality of the people who excelled in providing for visitors, and went without themselves.

During his stay in Britain and Scotland, Mr Sinton visited 120 cities and inspected many factories, which had been converted from war to peace-time production. In the Midlands there were many factories engaged in production of an extremely unattractive nature, and great difficulty was being experience in inducing labour which had been engaged in other work during the war to return to their previous occupations. This applied particularly to those factories associated with the metal trades, where the work was often grimy and uninteresting. Cities in the north of England bore greater evidence of bomb damage than their counterparts in the south. Hull, in particular, was a shambles, it had “got it” every night during the attacks on Britain and was virtually wiped out. Not unnaturally, business conditions in the United Kingdom were upside down, said Mr Simon, and prices for many manufactured products had increased by 100—300% on 1939 prices. He expressed the opinion that the best help New Zealand could give British manufacturers would be to import more goods from the United Kingdom. “It’s the import of goods, not money, we'want,” was his terse comment. “Chasing Markets” Completing his tour of Britain, Mi Sinton returned to America and visited factories throughout U.S.A, and Canada. He learnt while there the high regard in which New Zealanders are held in these countries, and paid a tribute to the work of the Dominion’s trade representatives in that part of the world. “America, however, is in a position similar to Britain,” remarked the speaker. “She is ‘chasing markets.’ South Africa is America’s best customer at the present time.”

Mr Sinton declared that Canadian industry was going ahead by leaps and bounds, and many factories which had been “war babies” had maintained and even expanded their activities since the cessation of hostilities. Aluminium factories were becoming an important item in the country’s economy and factories of this type had increased by 25% since 1945, the products of which would have an increasingly important and diversified range of uses in the next few years, particularly in connection with the building and hardware trades. During the war Canada supplied over dollars worth of materials to co-belligerent countries, and. she was not a partner to the lend-lease arrangement. “With her population of 12,000,000 and her vast resources, I am of the opinion

that Canada is a country with a wonderful future,” affirmed Mr Sinton. The speaker concluded his address with a brief reference again to the comfort and efficiency of the aircraft in which he returned to his starting point, Whenuapai aerodrome, Auckland,