MODEL COLONY

Taranaki Daily News, 5 September 1932, Page 7

MODEL COLONY

SCIENTIST’S PROPOSAL

FAULTS IN PRESENT SYSTEM

FAR TOO MANY RETAILERS

15 P.O. AT USEFUL WORK

BRITISH TRADE PROBLEMS

By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. London, Sept. 2.

• At the British Association meeting it was stated that only 15 per cent, of mankind is usefully working, the remainder ‘being occupied with unnecessary trading. [Professor Miles Walker suggests that the Government should found an experimental voluntary self-supporting colony under the auspices of scientists, engineers and economists in which an estimate could be made of the standard of life which the average inhabitant could obtain if he worked well and was aided by the best machinery. Not a quarter of those at present engaged in retail distribution were needed. Vested rights were continually interfering with and lowering prices consequent bn the development of science. Parliament was filled with incompetents unable to solvo an equation •with two unknown terms and much less complicated problems with many unknown terms. The procedure was antiquated and a business conference would reach sounder decisions in a fortnight than a House of Parliament would reach in an entire session. Professor R. D. Forrester declared that it could be argued that Britain must recognise that her traditional dependence on a large overseas market was no longer feasible. The struggle for a new equilibrium would involve increased dependence on the home market or those overseas markets where characteristic (British productions held their place. Britain faced a tariff larger in proportion to her trade than any country except Germany. OVERSEAS MARKETS. Trade could be improved if overseas markets were studied and analysed and a distributive organisation developed enabling British firms to keep in closer touch with the sale of goods overseas. The world tendency was for many industries to become dependent on the domestic market. The redistribution of markets was a normal incident of trade history. Britain’s problem was to w r ork her way through to a new equilibrium of foreign sales, and a new distribution of industries.

Professor John Coatman, Professor of Imperial Economic Relations at London University declared that an organised scheme for the migration Of labour and capital to start new industries or to extend old ones would go a long way to remedy the present imperfections of •population and industrial distribution in the Dominions. He emphasised the great -increases in the population in (Southern and Eastern Europe and the still greater increase in India and Japan, whereas those of Britain and Germany were decreasing. The Western races controlled a large part of the vacant land and meant to do so more rigidly in future. Canada and Australia could and ought to absorb all the British emigrants. "Every year insects destroy enough Empire food to feed 45,000,000 people,” declared Sir Arthur Hill, Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, emphasising the need for a larger army of scientific workers.