The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, JULY 11th, 1924. BRITAIN’S TRADE.

Hokitika Guardian, 11 July 1924, Page 2

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. FRIDAY, JULY 11th, 1924. BRITAIN’S TRADE.

A writer in an English paper in the course of an article on the present state and causes of unemployment in Britain at the present time states the

disorganisation and upheaval caused bv the war, and the spurious post-war boom still affect tratle in every direction, though it cannot he denied that there is a slight tendency to improvement. The United States and Japan were able to get a stronger footing in many of our foreign and Dominion markets, countries such as India and South Africa were more and more forced to become producers, and Europe cannot even now. afford to buy our goods. It is, ono might Bay, only the superlative quality of British manufactures thnt has enabled us to hold and recover such markets as we have held and recovered. AH’the world wants British manufactures; they are even prepared to pay more for them than for other manufactures, but they cannot nfford to pay much more for them. And the heavy taxation, constant- strikes, and high rates of wages—high, that- is, in comparison with those of most other countries—coupled with the fact that our exchange is hut little depreciated, make it often quite impossible for our manufacturers to compete against foreign

manufacturers. AVo are in the deadly grip of economic, conditions, which, while they have presorevd our national solvency, have often spelt individual ruin. At komo the results of t.ho war are equally marked. Pari of our unemployment is undoubtedly due to the tact that war encouraged some Indus!rie.s. such as shipbuilding, and stilled others, such as house-building. The result is that the balance is still wrong; a very large percentage of men in the shipping trades are out- of work, while all over the country there is an cnormos shortage of houses—which, again l , makes for unemployment, as men e.-muut move from place to place, as work offers, with the old facility. There are actuary 200,000 fewer men to-day in the building trade than there were in 1901. Rut perhaps everything would definitely right itself if only we could have industrial peace. In 1923 there were, not. counting insignificant stoppages—the figures are those of the Ministry of Labour 011 trade disputes causing stoppages of work that involved 400,000 people and resulted in the loss of 10,640,000 working days. Xoliody can readily do anything. hut lose by strikes, because, as the editor of ‘'lndustrial! Peace” lias pointed out, it is not the employer but. the product of the industry that pays wages. Employers are practically forced to pay in wages up to the limit, that industry can afford, and reliable figures show that labour takes two-thirds of the gross profits of industry. At the. present, employers, instead of studying markets and trade requirements, are compelled to spend mueh of their time in studying the psychology of their men and of the trade union leaders. The creative energy which ought to lie devoted to the expansion of business is being dissipated in barren disputes and managers are jstsitively unable to get on with their jobs. Instead of mutual trust there is mutual distrust, and the one great help to trade, co-operation the thing that would benefit, everybody—is lost sight of almost <ompletely. Furthermore, this per|)otual unrest frightens away capital. People will not embark their money on new ventures or developments unless they feel some sort of security. Without capital it is impossible to create work, and without security it is impossible to obtain capital. More than any other country n the world, this country lives on its exports. If we lose our exports through being unable to produce competitively high wages will ho meaningless because there will he no employment. Money, after all. is a relative term—it depends on what you can buy with it. Tf lower wages meant a larger and cheaper production, these lower wages might mean more in food and clothes and housing than the wages of to-day mean. In any case, it- is the prosperous business that can afford to pay good wages not the bankrupt, one.