The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 1908. A WORLD TRUST.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2224, 23 June 1908, Page 2

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 1908. A WORLD TRUST.

The nows that an international .sfi el trust lias been formed with the hu'c capital of £150.000,000 seems

‘tv indicate that we are to see a veritable record-breaker launched upon the- sea of commerce. It is not possible at present to do .'anything more than conjecture as to its probable operations, but the fact that American, German, and Russian syndicates are co-operating suggest that it may be a bold effort to crush the British manufacturer, and the statement that the Trust will start works in the United Kingdom lends eohir to this view. This is the, kind of warfare which may tax to tile full the resources of England. The Mother Country has so far succeeded in maintaining a navy that can still defy the challenge of the nations, hut if the combined commercial strength of the United •'States: and Germany are to lie used for the purpose of crippling the commerce of the British Isles, the result may go hard with her. 11l the past the Americans have made several attempts to heat .England on her own ground for the market for manufactured goods and, generally speaking, English manufacturers have in the long run held their own; lint such combination as that hinted at in Saturday’s cablegram may tell a different tale. If this is to be the policy of the nations it will become more and imore imperative for England to adopt some-method that will guarantee a system of Imperial reciprocity between alp parts of the Empire. Germany’s attitude over the Boer war had the effect of demonstrating in. ail unmistakable degree the solidarity of the Empire, and International Trusts aimed directly at England may very well become the unwitting instrument of a commercial combination that will he quite capable of standing against tho world.