WAR AND TRADE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2871, 8 September 1916, Page 6

WAR AND TRADE

MEETING GERMAN COMPETITION AN IMPORTANT REPORT

Early in tho present year a subcommittee appointed by the British Board of Trade's Committee on Commercial bitolligenco made a report with respect to measures for securing tho position, after the war, of 'certain branches of British industry. Among the articles affected wore paper, jewellery, cutlery, leather goods ; glassware, earthenware, toys,, electrical apparatus, brushes and hardware. German and Austrian competition had been particularly; severe in ail these lines, anil tho Board of Trade lost no time aftcj the outbreak of war in encouraging British manufacturers to produce the goods formerly drawn from the cnem> countries. But the ground gained bj means of trade fairs, exhibitions ol samples, and other devices required to bo consolidated in view of aftor-war competition, and the sub-committc) already mentioned was entrusted with tho task of considering this aspect of the trade campaign. "Tho value of the imports into tho United Kingdom of goods 'included within tho scope of our inquiry," said tho sub-committee in the course of its report, "may be taken as approximately £16,000,000, and of this total nearly £7,700,000 represented goods of enemy origin, and £500,000 goods of AustroHungarian origin. But it has to be remembered that there is also a largo German and Austro-Hungarian expoi t of these classes of goods into other parts of the British Dominions. No absolutely definite figures can be given, but we estimate that the total value of such goods imported into the five self-governing Dominions and India in 1913 cannot have been less than £3,000,000. Austro-Hungarian competition is noteworthy only in the case of jewellery and glassware. As regards German competition in the branches' of trade under review, it., is to be observed that it is limited, as a rule, to certain special lines of goods, and does not extend to the whole range of articles included in the class; in a number of cases the export of United Kingdom manufactures included under the same general heading are larger than, or nearly as large as, the foreign imports. . . The exceptions are:

paper for'wrapping and packing, jowel> lery, fancy leather manufactures, flint glass, toys and games, and magnetos, which have been practically a German monopoly." • • The report of - the sub-commit tes, which took evidence from many British manufacturers, covered a wide field. It recommended, for example, inoreased attention- to technical training and scientific research; it drew attention to - the advantage enjoyed by the German traders in cheapen- transport, even on British Bhips, than Bri-. tish firms could secure, and it emphasised the desirability of aa alliance between British capitalists and British manufacturers in connection with over, sea trade. German financiers invariably stipulate that the plant and machinery for the undertakings they assist shall be of Gorman manufacture. But the prominent feature of the report was a recommendation in favour of tariff protection,. both for the support of British industries and as a means I of preventing the ''dumping" of enemy goods immediately after the close of I the war.

More recently the Boaid of Tradu has published a summary of the evidence taken by the sub-committee, and copies of this paper have been received by His Majesty's Trade Commissioner in "New Zealand (Mr. R. W. Dalton). The evidence throivs a great deal of light upon German trading methods and upon the nature of the difficulties that the British mnnfab turers are anticipating at the close oil the war. It appoars, for, before tho war, the trade in magnetos, of great importance in all forms of motor-cars and aircraft, was monopolised by the Bosch Company, of Stutfc-, gart, a very powerful organisation with great, resources. There were no manufacturers of magnetos in the United Kingdom, where the demand for military and naval' purposes, as well as for ordinary, trade, was very great. Soma Sheffield firms took the work in hand, and they have 'succeeded in producing magnetos that are claimed tofbe fully equal in quality to the German articlo. But tho present, trouble is "tho reluctance of the firms concerned to commit themselves to further capital outlay, and the unwillingness of outsido capital to come to their assistance, unless assured of some security against tho strenuous efforts which the powerful Bosch concern will undoubtedly make after the war-to break down tho new British anterprise." The: witnesses called by the subcommittee in the course of its inquiry all stated their desire for protection, though some of them were of opinion that they could face Free-trade conditions after a sufficient period.had been, allowed for tho consolidation of the now British industries. Tho amount of tho duty asked for varied,from 5 per cent, ad valorem in the case of glass bottles, to 33 1-3 per cent, on leather goods and magnetos. The toymakers asked that German mechanical toys should be kept out of t-ho United Kingdom altogether. The German toys were produced by' "family or home labour, involving sweating in the very highest degree," and prior to the war 90 per cent, of the toys sold in the United Kingdom were imported,, mainly from Germany. Regarding china and earthenware, mention was made by witnesses of the fact that the German manufacturers make use in winter of surplus labour employed durifilg tho summer in agriculture; they accumulate huge stocks of, cheaply-produced goods, and they are allowed to. avail themselves of "homo and child labour, the cost of which is notoriously low."