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Hokitika Guardian, 5 April 1922, Page 2

Tiik great strike in the engineering trade in Britain, and the greater strike in the United States give point to the serious situation in both great countries; Referring to the engineering strike the Daily Mail said that a proposal to abolish the war botius forthwith in order to regain work for our shipyards was rejected unanimous ly hv the trade unions in their conference with the shipbuilding employers, but a scheme for the gradual withdrawal of the bonus is now to be put before the mein The position of this industry has never been worse. Authoritative figures show that more than half the British shipyards are lying idle. From March to December last year only 160,000 tons was laid down as compared with 620,000 tons in the relative period in 1908— the "worst pre-war yea r on record.” Dractically no new work is coming in; contracts which Britain ought to have got have gone abroad; British ships are getting the in conditioning done |in Germany. This simply means that while British shipbuilding c ost stands at more than £lO a ton as against about £3 10s before the war, as a shipbuilding country, Britain is out of it. In greater or less degree the position of the shipbuilding industry is th e position of British industry as a whole. Foregn nations who (I s“d to buy our goods cannot and will not buy them until they cost less. Not a few Labour leaders see this clearly. Mr W. A. Appleton, secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions, says: "Export is impossible npa.it from production and sale in overseas markets is equally impossible unless the quality and price of the article submiuLcd for sale approximates xo that of similar articles submitted by those nations who have been, and will be, Britain’s competitors.” If this states tlie ease fairly thero can be only one question: I s it better to have more work at lower wages proportioned to the cost of living, or a comparative handful drawing high wages and millions on the dole What is the answer?

y,iscouNT NoiiTHCLU’Fi: who made a tour .of the Empire, crossing other out of the way places on the globe to do so, was something of a self-appointed ambassador abroad. Lord Northcliffe amassed a great deal of first-hand knowledge about world problems, and was able to view intricate national questions from the local point of outlook. In th’is way he has been able through the widely eirculat-

ed newspapers lie controls to disseminate particulars which should be generally useful in awakening public opinion tp a sense of greater national responsibility regarding the matters touched upon. There was one aspect of his impressions which make a wide appeal and that was his reference to the work —the great work—of British representatives in out of the way places—exiles he styled them -where they keep the flag flying and uphold the prestige of the Empire. Tie dealt sympathetically with the life of the • men of our race who are engaged in business or administration in the F«r East. The service which they render to the Empire is beyond computation. Yet it is too often dismissed with scarcely a. thought, though it is the very rarest thing for any of them to flinch or fail when the honour of their country rests on their shoulders, hol'd NonUieli.ffe describes the isolation they suffer, sometimes with no white man within a day’s journey, often with no white woman’s society, and deprived of the companionship of their children. The handicap on this career of exile in the East has increased with the great rise in the cost of living here, which has imposed an almost impossible tax for the education and maintenance of their children in Great Britain. This rise has coincided with a depression in the staples of Eastern trade .which has brought the bitterest hardship, so that for the first time in modern history white men in the East liare had to receive assistance from public funds to save them from sheer starvation. There is now at last hope that the worst is past, and that the outlook in the Ear East is brightening) for which we may he devoutly thankful;