BRITISH TRADE

Hokitika Guardian, 31 December 1931, Page 3

BRITISH TRADE

CAMPAIGN AT HOME. A MILLION POSTERS. . LONDON, November 18. Sir. William Morris, speaking, at Dundee, declared he could definitely say that trade in the, South of England was improving by leaps and bounds, and the improvement was going North rapidly. ■He recalled a conversation he had with the Prince, of Wales on the way back from his Argentine tour. Turning to hi mithe Prince said: ‘‘Morris, I am going back to advertise my country. I am going to do all I can to advertise the manufactures ot the Old Country, for the reason that 1 am of the opinion that wo have been hiding out light under a bushel too long.” Sir William added that hist week his own firm created a record in producing 160 cars in one week. Sir William Clare Lees, President of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, invites members of the public to co-operate in a special scheme that will help them to secure a British article whenever they enter a shop. He -suggests that whenever shoppers told that a particular article is unon-' tainable of British, manufacture they should ask for a sample of the foreign .substitute offered and sent it to the local Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber will then communicate with a suitable manufacturer with a view to putting the shopper in touch with a retailer who can supply the desired British article. WINDOW DISPLAY. A million posters for window display have been sent to unemployment exchanges and local offices and will be distributed throughout the country. More (than 25,000 sites for larger posters have been offered by the railway companies and various owners of commercial outdoor advertising sites Twelve million “Buy British” stamps have been issued by the Federation A (British Industries for use on envelopes and in other ways by business bouses. They bear the words "Boy British Made and Help British I rado. Many private firms are co-operating m their own way with the Empire Marketing Board in furthering the campaign. The British Empire Mark of (t T' n Association is/ promoting a movement for the introduction of a voluntary and unregistered mark of origin available for producers and manufacturers within the Empire to place upon their ['inducts. 'Such a mark, it is uumed, would remove any confusion :.s to whether goods on sale incite Unit d Kingdom are or are not of Empire production. NEED of team work. The need for team work right, down from the farmer and the factory, through all the channels of transport to the retail shops, was stressed by the (Prince of Wales in a broadcast appeal to “Buy British from the Empire at Home and Overseas.” His Royal Highness, whose speech inaugurated the Empire ‘Marketing Board’s campaign, said that the appeal of the Mark-ding ■Board has always been to buy. whenever it was reasonably possible, first He produce of this country and next iho produce of the Empire countries beyond the seas. The critical events of this autumn had given that appeal n new weight and urgency. Mr Herbert O. Williarris, secretary of the Empire Economic Un'on and formerly Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, points out that the 'October trade returns show that toe hope that the temporary difference between the internal arid externa 1 ! value of our currency as a result of ’the suspension of the gold standard would have averted a .serious increase of imports in anticipation of a protective tariff has been gravely disappointed. Retained imports of manufactured goods amount to £25,720,000, as against £25,749,000 in October last year. When account is taken of the very substantial fall in prices between the two periods it 'is evident that the quantity of goods imported has shown a marked increase.

“The real gravity of the situation,” continues Mr H. G. Williams, ,£ is revealed when the retained imports of manufactured goods are contrasted with the exports of > British manufactured goods, the latter totalling £23,958,000 in October, 1931, compared with £35,916,000 in October, 1930. For the first month on record our imports of manufactures have actually exceeded our exports of manufacturers. This is the tragic pass to which Free Trade has reduced ‘The Workshop of the World.’ A GOOD SIGN. Lord Derby believes that the entirely non-political “Buy British movement” will be of inestimable advantage to,this country a@d the Dominions. The balance of trade has to be restored, and fit can be done only by’purchasing as much as possible in the Home .market first and then from 'the Empire. He hopes the Dominions will repay the Mother Country, by buying British goods. It is a good sign that people are now asking, “Is it Empire produce?” Many people ask what difference their shilling or . can make, but small sums nude a huge total, and Lord Derby told'a Ever pool audience that he had been informed ■that if an average of £2 more a person was spent each year on Homeproduced articles and £2 less on imported goods the balance of trade would be restored. The reason vby this had not been done before was that people had not realised what the Empire could produce. Empire shops would be

a great educative influence in :that respect. They were not retail shops, but would show visitors what they could get from their own retailers. It was essential' that there should be more standardisation both at Home and in the Dominions than there had been in the past. In the farming industry there- was not nearly enough attempt to standardise butter, eggs, • vegetables, etc., and ,if possible bring them to market, by co-operative means. They must have standardisation, and that could, lie thought, be achieved by consumers insisting on getting .exactly the same article as that which they had sampled. .