TRADE SLUMP.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 September 1920, Page 5

TRADE SLUMP.

BAD TIMES AT HOME. . PRODUCTION FALLING OFF. By Talegnpn.—Press AMiL^Copyright. Received Sept. 20, 5.6 p.m. i London, Sept 19. l'he trade si amp in Britain is causing •eonoßiats, puoliciats, and leading employers to anxiously search for an indWtrial solution of post-war problems. On the one hand there are thousands ' et. unemployed throughout the country, with the winter prospects of their number being trebled. Simultaneously, a |oJnber of industries, most notably coaliuunJE and' house-building, whose persistent ery and imperative need is for increased output, are threatened with a •top****. It is pointed out that the manufacturer is handicapped by the ever present Jwnace KJf strikes, excess profits tax, kbor and trade union rules. The ♦fconnous cost of production has reached K nosition causing despair. One wartttoe legacy has been slow timing, owing to the kindly treatment of monition workers, who now demand high wages fer easy, .slack work, while a typical ease against'trade unionism is furnished by Lord-Weir, who announced that be ec-uld employ another two thousand men immediately, but was prevented by the worktoenV rules. , Thesedifficulties not only hamper the employer,' but are embittering exservice men, who returned from . the battlefield to see works crowded with exempted workers, and ex-service men in many cases are actually prevented by the trade unions from learning a trade. TW« is at the root of the trouble in the housing shortage. One solution advocated is to make • wage* depend upon the powers of prov a*uctiojj>, and not upon the power of striking. The Government must organise a general reconstruction and stabilisation of wages on an output 'basis; which would ultimately mean more 'money for all, and giving the mteufeetnrer a firm basis upon which to develop. The danger of the country becdjning overpaid, and consequently uadft-pwdneing, must be avoided at all COtta>~AUs.-N.Z. Cable Assn.