ECONOMIC STRIFE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 33, 9 February 1939, Page 7

ECONOMIC STRIFE

FIGHTING GERMANY ADVICE TO BRITISH EXPORTERS I | NEED FOR UNITED POLICY [ British Official Wireless. ] RUGBY, Feb. 7. i The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Overseas Trade, Mr. R. S. - Hudson, speaking in Belfast to-day, . referred again to the question ol i securing greater co-operation among l those engaged in the export trade , particularly in view of the probable . i intensifying of German competition . by the now familiar German methods. ’ “I think we shall be compelled tc . combine and speak with one voice ; sinking our individual preference; and prejudices in a larger conception of the national interest,” said Mr ’ Hudson. “The exact method by which th:. 1 dual purpose of individualism at homt ‘ and unity abroad can be achieve, must be a matter for each separate industry to decide for itself. “My task is to stress the need, i; we are to maintain our existence as ’ a nation, of putting up a good fighl without delay against a very efficient ‘ competitor. The Government, wii: • lend all the necessary assistance in ' this.” A Hopeful Sign While they were now' living in a ■ period of economic war, said Mr Hudson, he thought that a large measure of economic peace was within their grasp in the next few month' A concrete example of what he ha in mind was the agreement reachewithin the last few' days between the coal industries ot Germany and Britain, an agreement which he hoped would be extended in the very near future to cover other European coalproducing countries. Economic peace and collaboration to the advantage of all would take the place of economic war, with all its resulting loss and waste. What had been done in the case of coal could, he hoped, be done in the case of other exporting industries.

BRITISH TRADE, THE FIGHT TO SAVE IT FRESH GOVERNMENT AID The Anglo-German economic war has swung into a new phase, cabled David Darragh from London to the Chicago Tribune recently. It was announced that British exporters would | get more State aid to stimulate activi- . ties in overseas markets and their risks would be covered by a £35,000,000 expansion in the Government trade insurance scheme. The British drive to combat subsidised Nazi competition embodies a new' principle in Government financial i policy—open provision for export credit facilities on a political as well as a commercial basis. A Government Bill scheduled to become law' early in 1939 allows the existing Export Credits Department to incur liabilities up to £75,000,000 at any one time instead of the limit of £50,000,000 at present imposed. These guarantees will operate only on “normal” commercial risks. With political considerations influencing modern commercial technique, however, the British Government has decided to set aside another £IO,rtJO,OOC to cover risks not justifiable on ordinary business grounds but which appear to the Board of Trade “to be expedient in the national interests ” The new 7 scheme, according to market observers, will enable the Credit Department to insure deals in any class of goods, including war munitions which are barred under the existing guarantee system. Army Trucks For China I Part of the £10,000,000 appropria- ’ tion, it is understood, may be used to j send army trucks to China. The fund might also be employed-' to aid the £20,000,000 armament deal with Rumania, which the British are said to be contemplating. Although the sum set aside is limited to £2,000,000, it can be used repeatedly as each deal

is completed and paid for by buyers. A special clause in the new Bill makes it unnecessary for the Gove, nment to seek Parliamentary approv for transactions such as the recent £16,000,000 arms deals with Turkey. The main object of the plan, wh: h has been worked out by Mr. Robert S. Hudson, secretary of the Depar:ment of Overseas Trade, will be to give British traders confidence to launch out in new markets and push business in the old commercial fields, it was explained. Mr. Hudson, speaking in the House of Commons, flayed the Nazi trade policy and warned that the British Government would organise industry in th country to take drastic action to protect its economic inerests unlc -s Berlin revised its commercial tactics. Consultations now are going on between leading industrialists and the Board of Trade in measures to defend Britain's vital export interests not only in south-eastern Europe, where the German stranglehold threatens completely to eliminate British manufactures, but in markets throughout the world. • Germans Troubled The new British export drive is viewed with misgivings in Germany, says a message from Berlin to the New York Times. The Nazis are straining every fibre to push their own exports to meet the growing deficit in the foreign trade balance. It was announced that the British 'Government introduced a Bill in the House of Commons giving the Board of Trade a big fund to guarantee British export trade, not on commercial grounds, but on the basis of “national interest.” “Britain’s silver bullets roll,” the Eoersen Zeitung said in its main front page headline. The article termed the export credits “political.” For the most part, however, the response Is rather restrained because Germany still hopes to reach separate agreements with individual British industries with which negotiations are. now under way.