The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18th. 1924. INDISTRIAL ENGLAND.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 June 1924, Page 2

The Guardian (And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times.) WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18th. 1924. INDISTRIAL ENGLAND.

Sthikks of considerable dimensions continue to leave England iu an unsettled stale. This, desjite the fact ihiti the United Kingdom lm< a Labor Government dominating the position. Tile unset.!lenient of the | enple seems to arise in a great measure from the olfeets of their own trade organisations. A contemporary writer, reviewing the position al. Home goes on to say that the diagnosis of (lie industrial paralysis is easy, and the prognosis is not hopeful The war hmr.t iiji thousands of millions of ncciiumhiw-d wealth. England was converted from a rich to a. eoinparalivol.v poor nation, and. dining the years of struggle, the workers suddenly found themselves receiving such wages as they had never dreamed of before. They wore also, through the Unions, enabled to dictate conditions of their employment and naturally, they took full advantage of the position. Their standard of liie was raised, and they were promised, in pompous rhetorical phrases, that England after the war was to he a '‘land for heroes,” a new country which should provide every good tiling for those living in it—a country in which every amenity of life would he enjoyed without effort. When capital is being expended without regard to what is Going given in exchange, everyone, while the process lasts, may obtain a shaft without regard In economical consideration. The winning of the war was tlu> excuse which ignorance, cupidand dishonesty used to justify the destruction of the nation’s wealth. The short-lived prosperity (piickly muled. Government expenditure was based upon a standard of shocking extravagance, and everyone followed suit, until suddenly came the necessity to put on the brake. The nation was travelling down-hill vv illi over-increasing velocity, and it became apparent to all that the paradise in which everyone was living was unreal, and that, unless coinnion-sen.se resumed its sway, the country would drift into bankruptcy. We all know what lias happened since. The industrial position lias changed. England's markets have been contracted. as her customers are without means to buy upon the pre-war scale, .•some of (he nations who bought her exports have brought themselves to poverty by their spendthrift policies: their currencies are debased, and they cannot possibly buy against sterling. The result is. and must he for years, inability to purchase, while, to aggravate the situation, their demoralised exchanges enable them to compete with ours to an advantage in any market where our manufactures can obtain access. But. in suite of all this, onr people are still listening to those who sac that everything can he adjusted yan Act*of Parliament, and 1 y their determination to accent employment only at day rates, and to limit their production to the lowest possible amount. the position is almost hopeless. The nation has to import its food and raw material, which can onlv he obtained against merchandise. The bi:y>lixes the price everywhere, and the seller must, in the last resort, accent what the purchaser wilf give, and .at' price obtained must, other tilings Itoing- equal, ho no higher than what competitors ask. In the meantime the Unions are fighting hard against economical laws: they may get a present advantnue. but in the on<l it will bo inipossible for them to improve their positions hv further destroying the funds upon which they mitst rely for maintenance. Either the Unions must discard the rosy glasses through which they view things, and come down to work anil work hard, concludes the writer, or the country or a Mussolini must come to the rescue.