A BANKER ON EXPORTS
There is the tang of the industrial north in Mr. Gerard Dewhurses review at the annual meeting of William Deacon's bank in Manchester. While emphasising the importance of a drive for increased exports, Mr. Dewhurst wants to see the Government taking a really active part. As he rightly points out, a large proportion of imports are now bought in bulk on Government account so that they alone have the negotiating power to arrange the payments to be taken partly in exports or to be arranged for quotas of British exports to be received at preferential rates. He therefore makes the interesting suggestion that the Govera- ment should act as a co-ordinating authority for the bulk 1 our export trade, using the present organisations of the various trades so as not to weaken overseas connexions. In carrying out such a policy effectively the Government might have to make use of the weapons of uneconomic prices, subsidies, or even loans.
It is good to see the Government's cotton control plans approved by this cotton-financing bank. Mr. Dewhurst stresses the difficulties of securing adequate labour supplies, which is preventing the industry from achieving full-time running of machinery, but even so he is able to speak of a considerable improvement in the industry's fortunes. The new margins fixed between raw material and yarn prices, while less than those ruling in the early war months, he regards as reasonable and helpful in providing the industry with stable conditions for its export business.
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