IMPERIAL TRADITION

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 399, 7 December 1932, Page 7

IMPERIAL TRADITION

BIRMINGHAM STILL REMAINS , SljRONGHOLD OF PROTECTION. i ! SUPPORT FOR OTTAWA. ' l | ' " \ Wellington, Saturday. "Since the days of Joseph Chamberlain, Birmingham has ' been intensely Imperialistic and intensely Protectionist. Consequently, it was only in accordance with tradition that the results of the Ottawa. Conference should be greeted with enthusiasm in our city." isaid Mr. J. Thaclter, a member of the Birmingham City Council and the retired head of one of the city's biggest manuf acturing businesses, who arrived by the Ruahine from London on his third visit to New Zealand. Birmingham, said Mr. Thacker, was dep'endent upon the sale of its manufactures for its prosperity, and realised that it was in its interests to have duties levied upon foreign goods entering the United Kingdom. "The strongest opposition to the Ottawa Pact," he continued, "is to be found in the North, in Lancashire and Yorkshire, but they are gradually coming round to realise th'at thb advantages they derive from having the raw materials come in free do not nearly compensate for the competition from Continental and Asiatic countries which pour cheap cotton and woollen goods into the country. Lancashire, in particular, is in a very bad way, and sometthing will have to be done to bring relief." Chamberlain Tradition. The Chamberlain tradition, said Mr. Thacker, is very strong in Birmingham, and could be consideved to be bound up in the words uttered by Mr. Joseph Chamberlain in his last public address in 1906, when he remarked: "The union of the Empire must be preceded and accompanied by a better understanding by a clos'er sympathy. To secure that is the highest object of statesmanship now at the beginning of the twentieth century." The fact that the first exhibition of the Empire Marketing Board was held in Birmingham was sufficient to indicate the city'isl ideeprooted predisposition toward Empire produce. Birmingham at present included Mr. Neville Chamberlain, Chancellor of the Exchequer, ■and Sir Austen Chamberlain. K.G., among its representatives in Parliament. Mr. Thacker has a lengthy connection with local government and p'oorrelief work, and in regard to the cabled statement that unqmployment had been recognised ;as a permanent problem in Britain, he said it was generally recognised that th'e time would soon come when shorter 'hours would have to be worked in order to distribute the work. Otherwise it would be impossible to secure markets for the goods produced, so completely had machinery replaced manual labour. A Progressive Centre. Birmingham, England's second city, was probably the most progressive city in the Old Country at present, said Mr. Thacker. With about 1200 trades being carried on, it was also the world's most comprehensive industrial area, and although the effects of the depression were felt, they were not so apparent as in most other places. In addition to having the largest municipal gas undertaking in the world, Birmingham contained two super electric power stations at Nechells and Hams Hall, the latter being a selected station under the Central England grid scheme. This scheme was practically completed, and it was hoped to follow it with a similar grid sysfem for the supply of gas, Birmingham already having mains stretching for many miles to neighbouring boroughs. With regard to transport, Mr. Thacker said that buses were gradually replacing electric trams in Birmingham, although the trams were retained! for eertain services for which it was realised they were more suitable. On one side of the city were large motor works, and on the other side a big tyre factory. When the employees were commencing or finishing a day's work a long line of trams, moving en masse, provided transport Birmingham was also the centre of a network of canals, and although' many of the branch canals had fallen into disuse, some of theni were still used to transport produce and coal.