RECUPERATION OF BRITAIN

Waikato Times, Volume 91, Issue 14134, 11 August 1919, Page 3

RECUPERATION OF BRITAIN

I ONLY 400,000 SERVICE MEW | UNEMPLOYED. ! SIR AUCKLAND GEDDES ON TRADE i STABILITY. I Sir Auckland Geddes, speaking as a guest of honour at a luncheon of the British Imperial Council of Commerce recently, said that no fewer, in fact, considerably more, than two and three-quarter million men had already been demobilised from the fighting forces of the Crown, and these had almost all been re-absorbed into industry, or trade, or commerce. There were only of this number some -'iOO,000 who at the present moment were not employed. Necessarily there must always be, until demobilisation ceased, a certain number of men not employed, because the men had a month's furlough after their demobilisation, and only then 'began to look around for jobs. One thing was very noticeable, namely, that the number of unemployed men demobilised from the Forces of the Crown was now shrinking, and not only that, hut the number of unemployed that had not served was shrinking also; so that they had going on in this country a most surprisingly rapid re-absorption of human beings into Indus'try, trade and commerce. (Hear, hear). The last return, which he received the previous evening, showed that that rate of re-absorption was increasing, and that, he thought, was the most encouraging factor :n the whole of their present outlook. (Cheers). At this time it was only right and fair that he should pay a tribute of grateful thanks to the men, who, during the period they were recruiting, made the rapidity of reabsorption possible. There was a body called the Reserved Occupations Committee, under the chairmanship of Mr M'Leod, which was charged with the functions of seeing that the men who were taken for the Armies, and Air Force, and the Navy -were taken in such a way that a stock was left behind in every Industry and business upon which the re-graft might be made when the time for demobilisation came. Difficulties Ahead. During the period of recruiting, while the Reserved Occupations Committee was at work, it was never •possible to judge fully the value of their work, but now they could see that that work had been well done, with the result that this country was showing a much' greater power of recuperation tftan any of our Allies or enemies, and they owed those men, and the control which they exercised over recruiting, a very great debt of gratitude, because through that careful work a great part of their recuperative powers which now existed arose. (Hear, hear). They had not done with the difficulties; there were still difficulties ahead of them. He received many complaints about restrictions still left on trade, but there was very good reason now for every restriction that was left on trade. He had received wiLhin the last few days certain complaints about restrictions imposed, not by this country, but by France, upon the passages of goods from this country to France. They had investigated the position most fully, and he would ask those interested in that trade to remember that France had suffered the most cruel losses, and that during the war she had to borrow heavily from this country, and that her own Government must be allowed to decide what goods she wanted to import for the use of her population, remembering always that 'because she was not in a position to export fully to Britain what she used to export, any heavy imports passing to her must increase her indebtedness to this country. He had also received within the 'last few days many complaints about the position of trade with the disorganised parts of Europe. Trade and Charity.

He asked them to distinguish clearly between trade and charity. It was quite possible to give them food, raw materials, and manufactured goods; that was one thing, and they were doing it on a very considerable scale; but it was not trade. It was no good sending goods to people expecting to be paid for them, when those people told them in advance that there war, not the slightest chance of being paid unless the credits were provided in London, which simply meant that London was- going to pay for those goods. The outstanding lesson which they could learn since the early months of the war was that in this country they had forgotten that in order to be heaithy and sound and able to weather the storm which must come, the trade of the nations must be well .balanced and firmly based, and not like a pyramid poised on its apex. Take their great textile trade. It was without basis within their own borders because they were dependent upon Germany for dyes. The spelter industry in this country was trifling—a two-penny-half-penny affair—ami when the storm came they learned how insecure these /oundalions were. The iron and steel, the great basal industries of the country, and of modern civilisation, witli the whole of tiie engineering trades resting upon that foundation, were completely unstable because of the smallness of their own domestic output of pig-iron and steel. Policy of Drift Abandoned.

5o he would say the main function of the President of the Board of Trade was lo watch the industries of the country, and to see that limy formed a balanced, coherent whole, not a lopsided or weekly foundation; and it was in that spirit that he approached the task which lay 'before him. ('Hear, hear). There was something more; as tiny were faced by great difficulties oversea, difficulties of markets arising from the disturbance, almost complete destruction in some cases, of the exchanges, and as they were faced by a situation in which the exchanges, so far as export trade was concerned, would prove dominant factors, it must be the function of the Government, through its Board of Trade, to work much more closely in touch with such organisations as theirs than had bem done, in the past. II was no longer possible to leave things to drift, as was the admitted and avowed policy of many Governments in the past. Unless the commercial community and the Board of Trade co-operated, this country would lose its stability, for only by big trade on a scale far greater than they ever bad before known would they be able Lo pay for the cost of the war. or perhaps make op the losses which the war had brought. He. therefore, welcomed that opportunity of meeting them in •ji'der that he might say to them, "J want your help, and I believe that you riQt'j] mine." (Cheers).