able to clarify the conditions and experiences we met during our visits to various factories and also enabled us to see how the Japanese Trade Union movement worked at its true grass roots level.
During our visit to Hong Kong we had the opportunity of meeting the officials of the Labour Department of the Hong Kong Government and discussing with them the background of the philosphy and objectives of the administration in the colony and also had the undoubted advantage of having representatives from the Labour Department accompany us on our visits to various factories and being able to converse with not only the manufacturer and operative, but also were of considerable help in reaching the conclusions later in this report.
In Taipai we were fortunate in having an interview with the Executive Secretary of the Textile Development Committee who explained to us the policy of the Government, its aims and objectives in the textile industry and they were extremly proud of the position they had reached regarding the Textile industry in the Far East in respect of its foreign currency earning capacity with the Chinese Nationalist Government.
The British Embassy in Tokyo extended to the delegation a considerable amount of help in obtaining certain information and explaining and advising us on the position at present in Japan as seen through the eyes of the trained observer. We had the opportunity of meeting the local Manufacturers Associa- tion during one of our visits and we spent some considerable time in open discussion with the manufacturers when they were endeavouring to relate the industry in Japan to that in the United Kingdom.
As a complete change we also met leaders of the Japanese Federation of Textile Workers and had a very complete and frank exchange of views, to the great interest of all those privileged to participate in this meeting.
The delegation was also fortunate in meeting Mr. Anthony Crossland who was, at that time, President of the Board of Trade and in fact, our meeting was perhaps the last official meeting that Mr. Crossland held with anyone as President of the Board of Trade. We were extremely grateful that he could find time during his very crowded trip and heavy itinerary during his day or two in Tokyo to meet us and enabled us to have a very free discussion with him during his visit.
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