British Industries Holding Their Own

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 379, 13 June 1928, Page 9

British Industries Holding Their Own

SOME ADVANCE AN INTERESTING REVIEW British Official Wireless Reed. 10.55 am. RUGBY, Tuesday. In the House of Commons. Sir Philip Cunl iffe-Lister, President of the Board of Trade, made an interesting survey of British trade. He said that it was satisfactory to see, throughout one group of industries after another, the considerable progress which there was in the volume of production in 1927 and the first quarter of 1925, compared with 1924. Comparing the five months of 1928 with the corresponding months of 1924. there was over half a million more people who had found work. With regard to coal, the actual production in 1925 was 243,000.000 tons, and in 1927 251,000,000. There was a considerable amount of evidence to show that we had been competing successfully with German and Polish coal in the foreign markets. STATE OF SHIPBUILDING With regard to steel, there had been a considerable increase, compared with 1924. In shipbuilding, there had been a falling off in orders, following considerable earlier improvement, which he thought was a reflection of the lower shipping freights which prevailed to-day. But one thing which was satisfactory was that we were certainly to-day holding our own in building whatever tonnage was required, as against the rest of the world. The vessels under construction in this country on December 31 last represented a tonnage of 1,580,000, or 50.7 per cent, of the world's tonnage. Turning to engineering, the last report he had had from the motor trade was that the 1927 output was being maintained. An increase was expected in the production of commercial cars, and there was some improvement in tho export of commercial cars, particularly to South America. In electrical engineering, there was a distinctly brighter outlook, iu the face of keen competition. BRITAIN LEADS ELECTRICALLY If they took the five great exporting countries of the world, they found Great Britain taking the lead in the export of electrical machines. That was a very remarkable thing in a trade, where, before the war, we were certainly not at the head. We exported 34.4 per cent., Germany 30.4 per cent., and the United States of America 29 per cent.