BRITISH TRADE.

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16750, 17 March 1926, Page 4

BRITISH TRADE.

PREMIER'S HINT TO LEADERB. SEE THE U.S. AT WORK. Addressing a mass meeting at, Sunderland, the. British Prime Minister dealt with the condition of British trade, lie said — "There arc grounds for what I may call a sober confidence, for a moderate optimism. I always like to understate a case, and undoubtedly in some industries the improvement has been helped by the coal subsidy. "It is impossible to say at this moment whether that help will have more than a temporary effect upon those trades.

"Since the imposition in the last Budget of the silk duties no fewer than 50 new companies have been registered in Great Britain.

"Many Continental concerns have built or are building factories in our country, so that, next to the United Stales of America, which, after all, have a population two and a half times ours, we are still, and I hope long may be, the largest producers of artificial silk."

The economic position has also improved in Canada, Australia, and India, and even in China trade showed a remarkable resiliency, though we could not hope for any development until more settled political conditions were reached. "We arc doing all that we can, in conjunction with other parties, to further a settlement in China." Example of the United States. After a reference to the depression in the pig-iron and shipbuilding industries on the north-cast coast Mr Baldwin said —

"I sometimes wonder if wc have gone to sleep, some of us, in these last six or seven years, while others have been particularly wide awake. I believe we should do well to study and to emulate the progress that has been made in the United States of America during that time. "I would urge employers and trade union leaders to make a point of visiting that country quickly and often just at present to study their methods, which are proving so successful in production, and I venture to think that no trade union leader could do better service to the cause he represents than by investigating closely what the methods are that enable the American workmen to enjoy a better standard of living than any working people in the world, to produce more and at the .-.line lime to have so much higher ■ IgCS. There is much more for us to learn i ;i both sides from studying conditions is that country than by spending any ount of money studying conditions . .Moscow." (Cheers.) Electritcity Scheme. Referring lo the Government's ■ ii'ctriolty scheme, lie said he was Honishcd at the widespread desire ■shicli had been shown to claim paternity. He hoped that when the Infant made its appearance in the •louse of Commons all these putative fathers would be as kind to it as they were at the font. (Laughter.) The merits and difficulties of an electrical scheme must depend more on .Is detailed application than on the novelty of its principles. While cheaper and more abundant electricity were objects admirable in themselves, and, indeed, necessary, they would not alone restore good trade or give industrial peace. "Don't be led away by excitable people who seem to think that electricilv in two or three years is going to transform the face of the country and make coal of no further use. Electricity can be put lo many uses, but it is a striking thing that the growth of electricity in other countries has been accompanied by a growth in the use of gas and coal, and a development of industry- " There is room not only for electricity and gas in this country, but for an enormous development of both." Dealing with housing, he said tbc Government was busily preparing to attack the problem of Uie stums. Referring to education, he declared: "There is no truth that this Government has failed in any degree to implement the undertaking which it gave in all sincerity to safeguard the education of the people if they were returned to power. "Local authorities are rather perturbed bv a circular they have recently received'from the Board of Education, What is called for is a careful reexamination of their expenditures and future projects. Such a request conveys no imputation on the efficiency of the local authorities."