Among the Austrian commercial zen in London seeking in various ways to re-establish the economic life of what was the Austrian Empire, one of the most prominent (writes a "Manchester Guardian" representative) is Mr. Julius Meinl, of Vienna. He is himself the head of the great provision manufacturing, exporting, and importing house which bears his name, and which has its branches not only in Vienna, but in all the countries, now independent, which formed the Austro-Hungarian Empire, The scheme, it is to found a combine, or trading trust, mainly british, of bankers, merchants. and facturers, to buy, sell, and even manufacture in Austria and the former Austrian States, or, as Mr. Meinl calls them, the Succession States. This combine would be a ce-operative but essentially 2 pri-vote enterprise, not a Government affair. Austrian partners would not be necessary. except some banks in Vienna and the other capitals of the Succession States. The difficulties of the Succession States in restarting commerce apd industry, or making a living atvall, are twofold. First, they have neither money nor credit to raw materials on which to start work, and, secondly, they are now cut off from each other by Customs barriers and restrictions of various kinds, where formerly they had free trade and free traffic within the Empire.
The proposed combine could overcome both these difficulties. It could purchase raw materials in the world market and could supply the manufacturers abroad with them, and in due time can purchase and export. the manufactured article.
T asked Mr. Meinl why manfacturers especially should be interested in a concern which primarily would be supplying raw materials, and he explained that manufac. turers would have their own special interest. In the first place, there are many manufacturers in England who are so full up with orders that they do not know what to do with them, whereas the Succession States have now cheap labour and very good labour to dispose of. It would be a good thing if some of these manufacturers got some of their surplus orders carried out over there. Such a company would have no difficulty with the varying rates of exchange. It would operate outside the exchanges, or, rather, would be its own exchange. Its own buying and selling, exporting and importing transactions would balance each other.
The project has received great encouragement in the City from accepting houses and other large firms and from financial and economic authorities. No small part of its commercial importance is that this group of independent States. formerly united in the Austrian Empire, holds the key to the commerce of eastern Europe generally:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.