CONDITIONS AT HOME.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 February 1922, Page 12

CONDITIONS AT HOME.

INFLUX OF FOREIGNERS. N.Z. PRODUCE IN LONDON. Some interesting remarks upon trade conditions in England, and the outlook for the future, were made by Mr. James Dykes in the course of. conversation with a representative of the Auckland Star. “London is still® growing,” Said Mr. Dykes. “Where I lined to go for a walk among orchards and. cornfields 37 years ago I found miles and miles of houses. The eight-roomed house my father used to occupy I found occupiAl by foreign Jewish families, one in each room. To my mind London bids fair to become the Jerusalem of the West, for foreign Jews are flocking in and do cheap work in their homes. The work is farmed out to them, and apparently there is no union to see that fair wages are paid for the work. I was informed the foreign Jews work a year for their keep, to get a footing and a knowledge of English. It looks as if the foreign Jews look upon London as the place to go and live to escape from persecution. I had an interview with my old -employer, Sir Philip Waterlow, and was shown over the big establishment of the firm of Waterlow Brothers.”

DUMPING FOREIGN GOODS. Referring to the unemployed question at Home, Mr. Dykes said the position is a very serious one. “Unless,” he said, “England shuts out foreign-made goods, which are now being dumped on the London market, I cannot see how the position is to be improved. Germans and Americans are flooding the market with goods at much lower prices than they can be produced in London. Here is an example.”

Mr. Dykes then produced a white metal case, two inches square, plushlined, containing a safety razor, made to fit a well-known make of blade. The handle was constructed on the telescopic principle, and the workmanship seemed first-class. “That razor,” said .Mr. Dykes, “is marked ‘Made in Austria.’ It is sold wholesale at Is, and retailed in London at Is 6d. You see how unfair to the English manufacture it is to (allow that on the maket. The men who * make those razors are paid with paper marks, of which about 750 can now be bought for an English pound. The London shops are doing a lot of business in German marks ahd Russian roubles. When I was in Loridon you could get 1000 roubles for a poupd. .This paper money enables articles to be made at a low cost, and the result is the English manufacturer is beaten in his own market. To my mind it would be sounder business not to accept ,any indemnity from Germany rather than have it earned at the cost of unemployment in Britain. What is waiited is legislation shutting out entirely these foreign made ! lines until the British unetiiployed aie in work once more. When you see 3000 men answering an advertisement for I three only, you can judge how serious I the position really is. They had to get mounted police to keep the line .in order.” NEW ZEALAND PRODUCE. In respect to the markets for New ; Zealand primary products. Mr. Dykes expressed the opinion that the only way to get New Zealand lamb and mutton thoroughly on the mafket would be for the Government to opeh places in various parts of England to sell it direct to the people? “I saw- stuff marked up as priiye New Zealand lamb which was certainly no credit to this country, if ever it came from ncre. Occasionally I heard the question asked: ‘Do you want one or two-year-old New Zealand lamb?’ That is not calculated to encourage people to buy our products. It would have been better to have bought the Imperial Government’s old stock at a cheap rate and destroyed it rather than have the market ruined for the new season. I am quite sure if only t'he New Zealand frozen meat could be distributed amongst the people it would dell readily. One place where 1 was staying they got N.Z. lamb at 1/2 per lb, when English lamb was 2/3 per lb. and the quality of one was quite equal to the other. The trouble seems to be that when once a line is sold at Smithfield no one knows what it will be called' when it is offered to the retailer. I found many people in England who are anxious to get out to New Zealand, which seems to be considered the one bright spot in the British possessions at the present time.”