The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET. AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 1930 THE PLIGHT OF INDUSTRY

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1019, 9 July 1930, Page 8

The Sun 42 WYNDHAM STREET. AUCKLAND WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 1930 THE PLIGHT OF INDUSTRY

IS the depressed condition of British industry hopeless# This question was put recently to Mr. Henry Ford who, much more optimistic than his English interrogator, promptly replied: "Far from it—never hopeless as long as England has Englishmen, but it will need a complete change of outlook on the part of British manufacturers.” In itself the answer was complete, but it is given a heartening emphasis by the fact that the American millionaire industrialist lias planned to establish motor-ear works in the South of England with a working staff of thirty thousand men. Moreover, the minimum wage already lias been fixed at £5 a week for nothing less, be it noted ! than five pounds sterling worth of competent labour. Thus, while British politicians, masters and men, bankers and manufacturers ai - e quarrelling among themselves and blaming each group and one another for the plight of industry and the chronic gravity of unemployment which, only for a week-or two since 1920, has fallen below the million level, a shrewd American, over seventy years of age, but more alert and enterprising than any two average politicians half his age, enters a field of industrial depression with perfect confidence of success. It should he explained, however, that Mr. Ford prospers on the principle (a revolutionary idea in Great Britain) that the payment of high wages increases the purchasing power of any country’s population, improves and extends the efficiency of workers, and reduces overhead costs to a point which enables industry to sell its product cheaply in an eager market. All this, of course, is the pith of the practical science of modern business, And British industrialists generally still are far from realising the value of scientific methods. They are as wrapped about with lioary tradition as a Mussulman’s head. There is evidence at last, however, that representative men in the United Kingdom are beginning to realise, the need of new methods in order to save the nation’s great industries from ruin. The old shibboleth of Free Trade is being assailed briskly and with determination to bring about an essential change in Britain’s fiscal policy. It is true that there still is a fierce conflict of opinion about it. The Conservatives, breaking away from lethargic tradition, are pressing for a return to industrial protection which, strangely enough, the Labour Government opposes almost with an intolerant hatred. They plan to divide the House of Commons on the subject and separate the sheep from the goats. The Liberals, as Labour’s political allies, pin their faith on the old, isolated system of Free Trade, refusing to see that it now merely means in practice the protection of the foreigner against British workers in British markets, and hope that either divine forces or that indefinable power which, in the past, has enabled Great Britain to muddle through its difficulties, again will bring back prosperity. Newspaper magnates, commanding an army of propagandists, claim that the salvation of depressed British industry lies only in the transformation of the Empire into a self-contained Free Trade unit with tariff's against the rest of the world. A group of bankers lias rushed into the controversial arena, urging that urgent measures should he adopted for the promotion of Imperial trade and unity. Empire Free Traders hail the bankers’ advent and advice as a staggering triumph for the crusade initiated by Lord Beaverbrook and Lord Rothermere. Mr. Philip Snowden, Chancellor of the Exchequer, characterises the financiers’ resolution as an exercise of impudence. Meanwhile, coal, iron and steel, shipbuilding, wool and the cotton industries are generally in a lamentable condition. The experimental process of rationalisation of industry, so far, merely lias increased unemployment. Is there no remedy for this state of affairs? The Conservatives argue that the remedy lias been staring a foolish country in the face for years. It is simply the adoption of a poli'ey to promote employment of British workers instead of foreign artisans and sweated factory hands. Today, Great Britain, formerly the greatest manufacturing country in the world, buys over three hundred million pounds’ worth of foreign manufactures a year. Of that colossal total, it has been estimated without challenge, that imported manufactures to the value of well over £200,000,000, enough to employ a million workers all the year round, could be made in Britain and would be made if industries were given a fair chance against foreign competition. Is it surprising that Mr. Ford thinks that Great Britain’s industrialists need to change their outlook, their methods of management, and their “pinch and scrape” attitude toward wages ?

THE WINTER SHOW

THE value of Auckland’s manufactures and products now amounts to more than £32,000,000 a year. This wealth in industrial returns is by no means as great as it could and should be, but the figure lias been reached by an annual increase of £1,250,000 over the past six years, and the advance has been steady. On the maintenance of such production depends the welfare of the province, and it is highly desirable that, from time to time, the people within its boundaries should have the opportunity of assessing what lias been done; of comparing their products with that of their neighbours; above all, of finding by example ways and means of making further progress. Furthermore it is necessary that, at intervals, town should meet country, each offering for comparison and criticism the fruits of its labours. These then are the outstanding reasons for such a fixture as the Auckland Winter Show and Exhibition. A display on the lines of that which has been opened today provides a focal point for provincial activity—a spot where city folk and rural dwellers may mingle and realise, after study of the exhibition and all it contains, the truth that all industry is inter-dependent. The greatest lesson of the show is the dependence of town upon country and country upon town. The completeness of the production range exhibited when pastoral and industrial products are placed side by side proves clearly that it is no longer reasonable to maintain old rivalries and obsolete distinctions. Auckland is New Zealand’s greatest centre of dairying activity. It is also the, greatest centre of industrial activity in the country, and in many cases the products of the land are treated by city machinery before being converted into marketable form. The Winter Show can and should demonstrate to farmers and industrialists alike the possibility of working closer together for the benefit of themselves and the community as a whole. The greater the amount of rural produce that can be absorbed by city factories the lower are the marketing expenses of farmers and the production costs of manufacturers. Today raw materials from the land leave the shores of New Zealand and are converted by foregin labour into articles which find their way back to retail stores in the Dominion. If it does nothing else the Winter Show can provide a very valuable service by demonstrating the fallacy of this and by encouraging the relationship of every branch of New Zealand industry and the extensive and necessary growth of factory production backed by pastoral resources.