LOW-PRICED GOODS.

Wairarapa Age, 8 October 1936, Page 2

LOW-PRICED GOODS.

COMPETITION OF FOREIGN COUNTRIES. SERIOUS POSITION CREATED IN BRITISH INDUSTRY. WELLINGTON, October 7. An animated debate on the seriousness of the position being created in British industry by competition from countries with a low standard of living took place at the fourteenth Congress of the Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire yesterday afternoon and to-day. The effect of Japanese expansion in the commercial world received special attention, and it was argued that low wages, Government subsidies, and long working hours gave the Orient an advantage that other countries could not hope to combat without specific duties against the cheap gods made in Japanese factories and sent throughout the world. The matter was introduced by Mr. C. Granville Gibson, M.P. (Association of British Chambers of Commerce). The following motion was carried unanimously: “That this Congress views with grave concern the increasing importation into the British Empire of low-priced goods and, being aware that the conditions of labour and wages tn some foreign countries do not give a fair competitive opportunity to Empire producers, urges his Majesty’s Government to lay before the next Imperial Conference the seriousness of such competition.”—(P.A.)