TEXTILE TRADE THREATENED.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 17 December 1925, Page 7

TEXTILE TRADE THREATENED.

Appeal for Government Buying. EVIL EFFECTS OF SPECULATION, By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. Austiali»u and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received December 16, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, December 15. Mr Ben Turner (Labour M.P.) president of the National Union of Textile Workers, giving evidence at the Board of Trade Inquiry, opposed a protective duty on worsteds, on behalf of twenty textile trade unions. Instead he advocated government or ■ co-operative buying of raw material. It might then be possible to run the trade profitably. State buying had been tried during the war time, with beneficial results. Why not now? The fluctuations in wool values did more damage to the stability of trade, than any competition. His proposal aimed at keeping , prices steady. The Government should buy the Empire -wool. Eventually the League of Nations would create the machinery for negotiations between producing and consuming nations. Tariffs were irritating barriers. If we did not buy goods from abroad, we could not sell abroad. The employers were not making an attempt to discuss with the unions methods for improving trade, without tariffs.