RECUPERATION OF BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 266, 6 August 1919, Page 7

RECUPERATION OF BRITAIN

ONLY 400,000 SERVICE MEN UNKMPLOIED

SIR AUCKLAND GEDDES ON ( TKAOii; STABILITY '

Sir Auckland Geddes, speaking as the guust of honour at a luncheon 01 vno .British. Imperial Council of Commerce recently, said that no tower, in iuct considerab'iy more, than two and threequarter'million men had already been demobilised Irom the lighting forces of hie- Crown, and these him almost ak been reabsorbed into industry, or trade, or commerce. There were only of this number touie •idl'.UOO who at the present moment were not employed. .Necessarily there must always Ije, until demobilisation ceased, a certain number of men not employed, because the men had a montli'a turrou'gh after their demobilisation, and only then began to look around for jobs. One thins was very noticeable, namely, that the number, of unemployed mqn demobilised from the Forces of the Crown was now shrinking, and not only that, but the number of unemployed who 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 industry, trade, and commerce. (Hoar, hear.) The last return, which ho received the previous evening, ijhowecl that that rate of ie-absorption was increasing, and that, ho thought, was tho most encouraging factor in 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 wore recruiting, made the rapidity of re-absorption possible. There was a body called tho Reserved Occupations Committee, under the chairmanship of Mr. MTeod, which was charged with the functions, of seeing that the men who were taken for the Armies, and Air Force, a.nd the Navy were taken in such a way that a stock was left behind in overy industry and business upon which the re-graft might be mado when tho time for demobilisation came.

Difficulties AheadDaring tlie period of recruiting, while the Reserved Occupations Committee was at work, it was never possible to judge fully the valine of their work, but now they could see that that work had been well done, with tho result that this country was 6howing a muoh greater power of recuperation than any of our Allies or enemies, and they owed iihose 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 tho 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. Ho had received within tho last few days certain complaints about restrictions imposed, not by (his country, but by France, upon tho passages of eoods from . this country to France. They 'had investigated the. position most fully, and ha would ask those interested in that trade to remember that Trance had suffered the most cruel losses, and that durin? the war sho had had to borrow heavily from this country, and that her own Government must Iμ allowed to decide what goods sho wanted to import for the use of her population, remembering always that because sho was not in a position to oxport fully toßritain what rJIio used to export.,any heavy imports flawing to her must increase her indebtedness to this country. Ho had nlso receive! within tho lar.t few days many complaints about the position of trade with the disorganised parts of Europe.

Trade and Charity. Ho asked them.to distinguish clearly between trade and charity. It was quite possible to give them food, raw mimanufactured goods; that was ono thing, and they wero dojng 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 peoplo told them in advance that thero was not the slightest chance, of being paid unless the credits we're provided in London, which simply meant that London was going to Bay for thoso goods. The outstanding Ipseoii which they could learn since the early months of the war was that in this country they had forgotten that in order to be healthy and sound and able to weather the storm which must como the trade of the nation must be well balanced and firmly based, and not liko a pyramid poised on its apex. Take their sreat textile trade. It was without basis within their nwr. borders because they were dependent upon Germany for dyes. Tho spelter industry in this country was trifling —a twopenny-half-nonny affair—and when the etorm came they learned how inso, earn thoso foundations were. The iron and steel, the great basal industries of tnp country, and of modern civilisation, with the whole of the' engineering trades resting upon that foundation, were completely unstablo because of the smallness, of their own domestic output of pigiror. and steei.

Policy of Drift Abandoned. So he would say the main function of the President of the Board of Trade was to watch the industries of the country, and to see that they formed a bnlaneed, coherent whole, not a lopsided or weakly foundation; nnd it was in that spirit that he approached the task which lay Veforo him. (Hear, hear.) There was something move; as they were faced by exeat 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 been done in the past. It was no longer uossible to leave things to drift, as was the admitted and avowed policy of many Governments ,in the past. Unless the ennimercial community and the Board of rr\de co-opeifited, this country would lose its stability, for only by big trade on a scale far greater than they ever had before known nould they be able to nav for the cost of the war, or perhaps make up the losses which the war had brought _ Hβ therefore welcomed that onnortunity of meeting them in order rhafc he might say to them, "I want your neln, and I believe you need mine." (Cheers.)