NEW FACTORIES FOR ENGLAND.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 22, 22 December 1932, Page 6

NEW FACTORIES FOR ENGLAND.

Some idea of the effects the British safeguarding- duties and the Ottawa tariffs are having upon foreign suppliers of the British market may be found in the statement made by Dr E. L. Burgin, Parliamentary Undersecretary of the Board of Trade, in the House of Commons. No fewer than 218 foreign controlled factories are now operating' in Britain, employing close on 10,UU0 persons, while it is estimated that 14,0 DD in all will be in work when the factories are fully occupied. Previous cables have from time to time shown that the scientific adjustment of the British tariff is by no means regarded by foreign manufacturers as a temporary phase. In the beginning the Baldwin Government made that plain with its safeguarding measures. The Ottawa decisions have cemented that belief, and while the influence towards compelling foreign competitors to come inside the British tariff wall was not the primary consideration of the statesmen who framed it, there can be no question that the effects of their decision have gone home. There are .two sides to the subject.: By the erection of factories inside the country the Government will lose much-needed revenue, but offsetting this is the employment factor, and anything which tends to relieve The strain on the Mother Country in this respect will be welcomed. As for the effect these factories’ production will have on Dominion secondary products, there would appear to be little danger in that quarter, since as the outcome of the Ottawa decisions, as far as New Zealand at least is concerned, the tariff concessions to British manufactures are not likely to seriously prejudice the Dominions. It will be recalled that some time ago when questions were asked in the Mother of Parliaments as to safeguards against foreign labour predominating in foreign owned factories in Britain, an assurance was given that the Government would carefully watch the position, and it can be taken for granted that the Government is not likely. to tolerate an invasion of foreign workers, and at the same time lose tariff revenue. The nation’s advantage of having such factories in Britain lies almost solely in the absorption of labour.