NEW SPIRIT ABROAD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 359, 21 May 1928, Page 16

NEW SPIRIT ABROAD

INDUSTRY IN ENGLAND TOO MUCH DEAN INGE AUSTRALIAN TARIFF CRITICISED Never in the history of England has thre been such opportunities in all branches of industry and business for young men with ideas. This is the confirmed opinion of Mr. H. V. Schofield, export manager of the Chloride Storage Company, Ltd., England, who is a through passenger on the Aorangi. “There is a new spirit in England to-day,” he said yesterday. “There are men who are trying to damn the Old Country, but they never will. “There is just a little too much of the Dean Inge spirit, but the British workman has never been sounder tha n he is to-day. “It is annoying to think that Dean Inge’s opinion of industry and the state of the country should be accepted abroad as authoritative,” continued Mr. Schofield. “It is nothing eg the sort. He does not represent the spirit of to-day.” Mr. Schofield’s company manufactures anything from a miner’s lamp to the largest and most powerful batteries for submarines. The industry has become so good that at present it is exporting electrical batteries to Germany. Batteries for automatic telephones are also made by the company, but its biggest business is the supply of large batteries to the British Navy for its submarines. Mr. Schofield trenchantly criticised the Australian tariff as far as electrical batteries are concerned. His company has supplied the batteries to the two new Australian submarines Otway and Oxley. “The Australians put a 40 per cent, duty on the ordinary trade price,” said Mr. Schofield. “Taking the cost of packing, freight and insurance, this means a duty of 55 per cent, on the English trade price of our goods. “We have gone out of our way to take Australian lead, but when we have turned the raw product into the manufactured article we are faced with this heavy duty.” Mr. Schofield explained that the new spirit in English industry has made a great improvement in trade. In his company’s works the co-operative spirit is prevalent. Every week a representative of every department meets at a round the table conference in the company’s time. Everything is fully discussed —what the company is up against, the nature of competition, overseas trade, the state of competitors —and consequently there is a greater understanding among the employers and the employed. The company also pays its employees pensions. “We have more people who have been with us for over 25 years than any other company in England,” said Mr. Schofield. “There is always the opportunity for young men who are willing to take responsibility—that is true of every business in England to-day.” he concluded.