HEADQUARTERS

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15171, 22 February 1923, Page 9

HEADQUARTERS

LONDON'S PREMIER POSITION. London now controls every mile of railway in Britain. And only the other day at least a third of the mileage was controlled in the provinces. York, Derby, Manchester, Glasgow, and Edinburgh all had the head.offlces of important llnes> What has just happened in the case of the railway happened only a short while ago in the case of the banks. Banking headquarters were found in many strange places only a few years back —even in small villages like Langport, in Somerset. Then cam© amalgamation and the control of nearly every bank In England passed to London.

No doubt the process will continue of concentrating headquarters in London. Distances have been so shortened in time by telegraph, telephone, rail, and motor-car tjftt it has become practicable to run from one centre business in all parts of the country. And to all who work in the provinces the London office of the Arm has always been a lure. The ambitious and coming man seeks every excuse to get to that office, with the advantages of a home in London, and so the brains of the business tend to pass to the London office, which often be- | comes headquarters in fact before it is headquarters in name. For all that, London is still a long way from controlling the whole of the business of the country. Though she is a great port, Liverpool and Glasgow still own and run many of the liners that use her docks. Great companies like the While Star and Cunard have only branch offices in London. Wool and cotton are of the greatest importance in Br tain's trade. Hero London certainly plays second fiddle to the provinces. True, London deals to some extent in wool, but she does not touch cotton. The control of the tobacco trade is, by historic right definitely in Bristol. And although London Is the biggest user of building stom: in the country, the headquarters of the stone trade arc still in the west of England. London has her b'g coal Anns, but Cardiff, Newcastle, and the Midlands still dictate to her about coal. Here and there London has ceased to be headquarters of certain industries. The Showman's Guild, which looks after the interests of the showmen of the country, has moved down Into Staffordshire. And a gcner->t : on ago.many of the manufactur ng trades passe* from London to the towns outside. That movement has ceased. London is even regaining some of her lost manufactures. Many a big provincial industrial firm now has works in or near London. —v