CO129-581-16 British propaganda in Hong Kong 18-4-1939 - 29-10-1939 — Page 122

3.

1274

State of British Industry.

in

This view was

British industry shows the most remarkable resiliency,

spite of the difficulties of international trade.

expressed by the President of the Board of Trade in a recent

speech. A misleading impression as to the state of British

industry is sometimes conveyed by the official figures of

unemployment. The present figure of 1,800,000 unemployed does

not mean that all are entirely without occupation. The President

of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce alluded to

this point in his recent presidential address. "Most of the .

number (1,800,000)," he said, "are unemployed only for

comparatively short periods, and only 300,000 have been unemployed

for more than a year continuously."

Two instances may be quoted as fairly reflecting the healthy

condition of British industry. The Morris motor car is to-day

almost as well known abroad as in Great Britain, and during the

first twelve weeks of 1939 orders from abroad for Morris cars

were no less than fifty per cent higher than during the corres-

ponding period of 1938. So promising are the export prospects

that the directors of the company recently decided to spend as

much as £31 millions on equipment and production material.

other instance is from one of the large British tobacco centres,

Bristol. Recent reports show that employment in the tobacco

industry is being maintained at a very satisfactory level, and

that there is every likelihood of the good results obtained by

British tobacco factories in 1938 being repeated in the current

year.

The