23 AUGUST 1935, Page 2

Misplaced Factories The year 1934 showed no change in the

persistent and disturbing tendency of new industry to neglect the old and stricken industrial area of the north and to settle in the prosperous south. Of the 87,200 persons employed in new factories in Great Britain no fewer than 18,100-- or nearly half—were in the southern or south-western area, and of these 15,750 were in Greater London. In the north-western and north-eastern areas, on the other hand, which include the populous industrial counties of Lancashire, Yorkshire and Durham, the new factories only found room for 8,200 persons. The greatest amount of new employment was found for workers in the regions where unemployment was least ; the least amount of new employment in the regions where distress from lack of work was more acute -Chan anywhere else. Here we have illustrated the grievous misdirection, geographically, of industrial development—an error that could be avoided if industry were subject to planning, or even if measures were taken'to make it worth while for employers to establish their works where they are most needed.