BOARD OF TRADE SURVEY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 95, 17 February 1947, Page 4

BOARD OF TRADE SURVEY

GEM SETTERS AND SILVER CRAFTSMEN DRASTIC REFORM IS RECOMMENDED Britain’s gem setters and silver craftsmen are the latest band of workers to come under the penetrating spotlight of Board of Trade surveys. In the interest of the export production drive the Board of Trade has set up working parties to examine important British industries. The party for jewellery and silverware is sixth to issue its report. Others have dealt with cotton, hosiery, boots and shoes, pottery and furniture.

Drastic reform, almost amounting to rebuilding; is recommended for the British jewellery and silverware trade, important since days of the Nprman conquest. What the report says in fact is (1) Take these skilled men and women from workshop hovels in dark alleys; keep their craftsmanship from shadowy haunts of the “black market” by abolishing the purchase tax on jewellery. The working party found that glitter of jewel industry was only skin-deep. Many veteran jewel makers, stemming from medieval craftsmen, are working in conditions which would have shamed the founders of their industry. The imposition of 100 or 112 J per cent, luxury tax drives workers from reputable firms to backyard hovels where they make fine “pieces” to sell on the “black market” without tax. The Hatton Garden district, centre of London’s silver and precious stone industry, has some good light workrooms, but many are in back streets and dark alleys. Unsuitable buildings, over-crowding, dirt, and ineffective ventilation are all there. The working party found similar conditions in back-street jewel centres of provincial towns.

In Birmingham, for instance, they say the “jewellery quarter” has become a vast warren of old hotuses, tin sheds, and timber shanties. In Sheffield many of the shops were built in days of individual craftsmen and therefore have little provision for mechanical methods. Windows are small and often cannot be opened. The working party recommends formation of a central buildings committee to plan rehousing of trade in better and brighter conditions. The Birmingham Jewellers ’Association, it is reported already has such a long-term plan. / In improved conditions the report says, the jewellery industry, while retaining its old craftsmanship, should develop more modern and scientific jewel-making technique. A production efficiency organisation is recommended to reorganise and reequip the industry.

These drastic measures have become necessary because of the decline of industry between the two wars. Quantities of imitation jewellery from Europe flooded British markets at prices with which British jewel-makers could not compete. Between 1924 and 1935 the total British production of imitation jewellery increased by 10 per cent., but imports of cheap jewellery went up by more than 1000 per cent. During the war jewellery went into the luxury category, bearing at least 100 per cent, purchase tax. This tax, the working party says, not Only restricts sales to foreign visitors, but draws workers away from established firms. They set up in small work-rooms where they make diamond rings and other highpriced pieces which can be disposed of for inflated cash prices in a manner which doesn’t carry a purchase tax.

If the tax is to continue, the working party recommends, a special committee representing the Treasury, Board of Trade, and the jewellery industry should advise on the level of the tax which the producers can bear and the details of its imposition.