TNAG-0172-FCO40-208-United-Kingdom-Productivity-and-Efficiency-Study-effect-on-H-1969 — Page 205

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ROPA. Pixkle Council Productivity Pinder File- Tattersalls

Weekly Survey of the Textile Scene

F. W. TATTERSALE LTD. WOOLWICH HOUSE ⚫ 61 MOSLEY STREET

14 MAY 1969

No. 1,424 HXX6/548/8

TIME FOR ACTION.

*

MANCHESTER M2 3HU

061-236 8757

May 6, 1969.

It is good to see the Textile Council taking a firm line not to brook any further delay by the Government in considering the findings of the productivity and efficiency study. A strongly-worded telegram was sent to the Board of Trade at the time of the imposition of purchase tax on household textiles; now Whitehall is left with no illusions as to the views of the industry on the necessity for swift action to follow up the report and its recommendations.

In its leading article" in the current Review the Council refers to the statement made by the President of the Board of Trade at Nottingham when he gave an assurance that decisions by the Government would be made known "by the early autumn". "The industry is not prepared to wait longer than this", the Council says bluntly. "There must be no further delays. "

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Sir James Steel declared at the conference that a sense of urgency was of paramount importance, and the Council is obviously backing him up to the hilt. "The season of fact-finding and debate is now nearing its end. It is a time for decision," it declares. "The industry has made a big leap forward in recent years and is poised for further advance."

Ambitions Frustrated.

Until the Government declares its policy in respect of imports and industry structure,, the Council warns, uncertainty could frustrate the plans and ambitions of those textile firms which seek to progress. Draft copies of the report were available to the Board of Trade nearly three months ago and its main recommendations to the Government are clear.

Beset as they are by so many doubts about practical points of policy which can affect every firm in the trade, it is small wonder that its leaders as well as the rank and file are rapidly losing patience. Even normal buying arrangements, quite apart from major considerations of re-equipment and organisational projects, must hang fire while the outlook is clouded with possible changes which could mean substantial readjustment in the plans of individual firms.

There have been phases of uncertainty in the past, but never before in the history of the industry have there been so many unsettling influences which have a fundamental bearing on prospects. This too, at a time when the progressive elements are straining at the leash to prove that textiles are far from being a spent force.

THE OVERSEAS ANGLE.

While representatives of the industry and the Government are engaged in negotiations arising from the findings of the Textile Council report and in particular the proposal to introduce tariffs on Commonwealth imports reactions from abroad are slowly sceping in. Understandably enough, the attitude of textile traders in the Far East shows considerable alarm at the possibility of such a fundamental change in commercial policy.