EXPORT TRADE
On previous occasions I have emphasised the necessity for Great Britain to expand its export trade by all means in its power. Today the need is greater than ever though the circumotances have changed. We require substantial supplies of goods from other coun- tries to meet the needs of the war, and if we are not to incur a dangerous depletion of our reserve assets in the shape of mobilised gold reserves and partially mobilised dollar and other foreign securi- ties, we must pay for these imports with the current production of our own industries.
The problem is not so much one of finding markets for our goods, as of so organising our industrial output that we have a sufficient margin of productive capacity to supply those markets that are waiting for them.
There should be plenty of willing overseas buyers, thanks to the curtailment of German competition and the improved purchasing power of those countries which are benefiting from our war expenditure.
The task is one primarily for the Government's economic advisers. just as our man power has been allocated between the fighting Ser- vices and the industries essential to the needs of these Services, so must a portion of our domestic production be mobilised to furnish the sinews of our external economy ant, at the same time, to re- establish permanently our overseas trade in markets, many of which were lost in the last war through the neglect of economic con- siderations.
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