NO BOOM PERIOD IN BRITAIN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 31, 30 October 1937, Page 4

NO BOOM PERIOD IN BRITAIN

Hastings Visitor Says Trade Is Nearly Stable / ALL WAGES NOT HIGH Conflicting shaTply with the oft expressed opinion that the Old Country is at present enjoying a boom period and that there is • a greatly increased spending power 'of the people, Mr Harold E. Loach, who is visiting Hastings, his old home town, after an absence of nearly 25 years in Siigland, contencia that trade in England' is little above the average, despite all the expenditure involved in the rearmament race. "It has been rather a surprise to me to hear and read all about the wonderfully prosperous times that England ia supposed to be experiencihg, but then I suppose this is only to be expected from those people who visited England during the Coronation celebrations, ' ' he said. ' ' They saw London at a time when every thing was done on a lavish scale but it was not a reliable guide to the real state of affairs. 1 am not going to say that times are not good in the Old Country, nor am I prepared to say that they are particularly good. They have been worse and they have been better. "My experience is that trade during the past two yOars has not been particularly good. After all the pulso of trade is in the public-house business and, during the past few yeaTS, this has fallen off. To-day it is not good by any means," said Mr Loach, who for the past live years has been "Mine Host" of several public houses in various counties, particularly Staffordshire. While admitting that tremendous sums were being spent in the rearmament race, Mr Loach pointed out that, in the first place, this money had to be found, and that meant calling upon the general taxpayer. Then again the high wages that were paid to the skilled cratsman and workers in the munition factories did not apply to other trades. "Take the pottery industry, which is one of the principal sources of wealth of Staffordshire," he said. _"We had a booin time for the Coronation that did not take place, then wfi had anotfier boom time for the Coronation that did. But the wages paid are only about 25/* a week for girls and from £2 10/* to £2 16/- for men. "Then there is Leicester, where the main manufacturing business is the hosiery line. The weather during the past few years has been far from favourable. We have had very little sunshine, as the New Zealand cricketers are well aware. The effect of this was that the women did not indulge in ail the fineries to the extent they would have had there been better weather. Girls in the hosiery factories, if they are particularly smart, might earn up to £3 a week on piece work. And there are many other industries like these."