WELLINGTON TOPICS

Taranaki Daily News, 25 March 1920, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS

BRITISH TRADE. WILL BE RECOVERED. (Special Correspondent). Wellington, March 22_ Mr. R W. Dalton; the British Trade Commissioner, accompanied l>v Captain 1?. S. Havna;, who is to act as Assistant Commissioner, returned to Wellington yesterday after an absence of eighteen months. The purpose of Mr. Balton'a prolonged visit to the Old Country was to refresh his acquaintance with British manufactures and manufacturers and to confer with the Home authorities upon a number of matters concerning the trade of the Empire. The Commissioner lias come back confident of Britain recovering herself as the great financial nation of the world,, but the ■ft'ork of rehabilitation. he says, will occupy some time, and will require the united efforts of her scattered people. PRICES STILL SOARING. Meanwhile, Mr. Dalton holds out no hope of an immediate drop in prices. He fears, indeed, that in regard to many commodities thoy will soar still higher before normal conditions of trade are reached There are enormous demands for British goads from Western Europe and South Anjerica, and these nearer markets could absorb alt the British manufacturers can produce for some time to come. if. profit were their only concern. But there is a strong and growing desire to foster trade within the Empire, and this business and Sentimental tjinstinlefc will have fuller play in the future than it, Ims had in (he past. Its development, Mr. Dalton thinks one of the moat cheering features of the situation. RATLWAYMEN'S WAGES. The railwaymen are determined the public shall not lose sight of their grievances. They are urging now, apparently with very good foundation, that their inadequate pay is mainlv responsible for (he decline in the efficiency of the railway service,. Men wjth ten or fifteen or even twenty years' experience, still young enough to make, a start in more remunerative employment, are leaving the service, and their places are being filled by inexperienced hands, who in the long run prove much more costly to the Department and to the State than would the payment of adennatP wages to fiualiHed men. It. is to the efficiency of this cheap labor, the men alietre, that the appearance of a "go slow* policy is due Tho inexperienced hands simply ftinnot klip up to timt.