BRITAIN OF TO-DAY.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 January 1920, Page 5

BRITAIN OF TO-DAY.

INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS. THE FUTILITY OF REVOLUTIONARY STRIKES. A very optimistic view of the future in regard to industrial conditions in the United Kingdom is held by Doctor Guy H. Scholefleld, the well-known New Zealand journalist, who returned to the Dominion by the transport Kigoma the other day. Dr. Scholefleld was absent from New Zealand for a period of about eleven years, and in latter years, during the war, in addition to "his ordinary duties, he accomplished work which was highly appreciated by the military authorities and "diggers" in France and England. 6 Dr. Scholefleld now intends to spend several months in a tour of the Dominion and the islands, after which he vi.'l again settle down to hi? former profession as a journalist, in New Zealand, though in which centre he is at present unable to say. DIRECT ACTION TURNED DOWN. "Until the middle of this year," said Dr. Scholefleld in conversation with a Times reporter, "industrial conditions in England were very unsettled, and capitalists, as many overseas travellers discovered, did not feel justified in proceeding full speed to recover their overseas trade. There was a general feeling that what is generally called Bolshevism had obtained a great hold on the English working-classes and the question of direct action strikes was freely discussed in the press and outside of it as one of immediate importance. This gave great interest to the Trades Union Congress which was held in Glasgow in September, and which was easily the most important Labor Parliament ever" held in tho United Kingdom. Although no direct vote was reached on the question • the congress showed that only a very few delegates—half a dozen at the outside —were in favor of direct action. That this was a correct estimate bptame apparent only a few weeks later when the railway strike broke out; that was a very favorable opportunity for the application of direct action; but the trades union leaders strictly confined the dispute to the railway workers and so obliterated the spectre of revolutionary strikes. "The railway strike, in spite of the inconvenience- it caused, was Die finest thing that could have happened for England at large," said Dr. Scholefleld. "It showed ou the one hand that the public was not disposed to sit with its arms folded and allow its everyday life to be entirely held up. But it also showed that the trades union leaders have been able to regain that authority over their members which they appeared to have lost during the last five years.'' CONDITIONS OF LIVING. Contrary to expectations, said Dr. Scholefleld, the number of men who were unemployed in England to-day was remarkably low. Wages, of course, were very much higher than they were before the war, but as a result largely of the railway strike, employers were feeling a great deal more confidence in the temper of labor and were showing much more inclination to go aheadMoreover the conditions of living had greatly improved during the last few months. Tho price of coal, which made the outlook for the winter very gloomy, bad been reduced by 10s per ton; the control of meat had been abandoned, and the rationing of sugar and butter had been slightly increased. RECOVERY OF COMMERCE. Commerce, said, the doctor, was gradually recovering from the set back it had naturally experienced while the war lasted, but it was not doing so rapidly. It was a pleasure to note the number of German vessels which were engaged in the import and export trades. The Home market in Great Britain was likely to be worth a great deal more in the future than it had been in the past, partly because the great bulk of the population were over so much better paid and partly because there was some acceptance of the principle of protection for British industries. LONG-DISTANCE MOTOR TRANSPORT. Mr. Scholefleld also noted a revolution in England since the war ended in the use of the motor for transportation purposes. Where as beforo the war very little merchandise was carried by road, now a great deal was carried by motor lorries between London and places as far distant as Bradford and Bristol. The roads, he remarked, of course had to be entirely reconstructed to carry these heavy vehicles, and the problem of financing arterial thoroughfares was be* igwajng aeuttfc ~ : "' ■ ----- -