LORD INCIICAPE ON TRADE.
" The worst year which shipping has ever experienced." In these words Lord Inchcape, at the meeting of the P. & 0. Company on Wednesday, summed up the conditions of the past year. The reduction announced some weeks ago of the - P. & 0. dividend had prepared the shareholders for an un- favourable statement, and Lord Incheape showed that ship- ping during the year had been hit by a combination of adverse circumstances such as high running costs, increased labour charges, shortage of cargo, depressed trade- and low rates of freight. The situation is being met by rigid economies, but Lord Inchcape made it very clear that most of the main causes of trouble go far beyond anything that is in the control of private industries themselves. In no uncertain language, the Chairman of the P. & 0. Company, when referring to the safeguarding of Industries Act, deprecated anything in the way of protection as calculated to impair our trade activities and especially the earnings of the shipping industry. More- over, while sympathizing with all the legitimate demands of Labour, Lord Inchcape was, as usual, unsparing in his treat- ment of what is sometimes known as " organized slackness." It is scarcely surprising td find that sO hard a worker as the Chairman of the P. & 0., and, moreover, a worker who has laboriously climbed-each rung of the ladder, is quite unable to comprehend the slogan of one of our Labour leaders :—
J` Not a cent off the pay, Not a minute more a day."
" I am at a loss," said Lord Inchcape, ".to understand this attitude. Some of the Union leaders appreciate the economic situation as regards wages, working hours and output ; others don't. The latter_ refuse to recognize that production cannot be carried on at a loss indefinitely, and that unless there is a margin of profit, or at least sufficient to cover working expenses,
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