Federation of British Industries Dinner to the Visitors: Development of East Asia Front Our London, Suly 13.
'The Federation of British. Industries gave a dinner yesterday to the Japan Beonomle Mission tu' the Halt of the Mercers" Company, with Lord Hest, President of the FB, in the chair. The Principal speakers at the Dinner "were Lord "Sarnby, Ins, Chookura" Kedono,. Sir Prederiele LeltneRoss, andthe Japanese Am= bassador to London.
"Thoee present. included:
The Japanese Ambassador, and pants, BAGNore "Ebdon cane ers, ann bunahn sccaigs Leah toni aga method of friendly consultation and ce-operation. We must face facts. 'The numerous dificult problems arising from the rapid increase population forced Japan to enter the field of industry and commerce around the turn of the Century, -and it was perhaps inevitable that' this orientation should tend to create friction between the economic inlerests of our two countries,—But this fact does not justify the pessimistic view that the common dependence of England and Japan upon foreign trade must necessarily. give rise to destructive competition. Friendly a¢ competition, governed by the rules of reason and fairplay, is often the very stimulus needed for wholesome fan. Beonomle Mission, growth and development. business "men. in. Lore don; "Lord rst, Lord" Barnaby, i 'The subjects which we have dis~ Frederick Laelth-itos, Sir Alexar cussed recently with' you have all Cadogan, sir Hobert' been what might be termed controim Brown," Sie. Biward "crowe, Lora River: versal questions, and we discussed them, not only frankly and without reserve, but even bluntly. Because you are animated by the spirit of {fairplay and a desire to see the other fellow's point of view (os T assure ami you we try to be) the discussions were carried on in an atmosphere of the utmost friendliness. I think that discussions of this nature are valuable and helpful because it is important not only to know the fads, but to know how the man on the other side of the fence thinks and feels about such facts.
Polley of Lord Barnby, proposing the health of the Mission, after referring to the EBL. Mission' to Japan in 1936, of of which he had been the lea This is not the time nor the place! in which to discuss details of the conversations which we have had with the Mission. "We naturally hope that they may lead to closer cooperation and more friendly relations between the industries of our two countries, but, be the direct results great or small, the mere fact that the conversations have taken place can= not fail to be for the good. It has always been the policy of the Federation of British Industries to meet and discuss dreely with its opposite numbers all over the world, and have no hesitation in saying' that such a policy Is a sound on 'Our conversations have taken place an. atmosphere of commercial goodwill, (and here 1 emphasize freedom' from political influence as far as our deliberations are concern and this is obviously a point to the' good. In the next" decade. the development of East Asia should be the hope of world trade, The history of the past decade shows that the expansion, of commercial prosperity In the older industrial countries fol-Towed from the development of the large and less modernized commoniles. In the vast territories and populations of East Asia, if our mission really be to raise the standard of living, the field for fnanciat investment and commercial supply, is ample for all the leading trading countries of the world. Surely cooperation should suppress mistrust T would suggest that our two great nations, whose development and history' have followed such parallel lines, have a like responsibility towards the prosperity and well-being. not only of their own. cllizen: algo of the world at large, We must, 'Of course, leave to our statesmen the major part of the task of strengther Ing the ties between our two countries, but T believe you. will agree with' me that og. the industrial and commercial leaders of our two countries we can play a not} insignificant part in removing mise understandings and' reinforcing our good relationships, to our, mutual bennet and to the great security and prosperity of the world as a whole,"
Friendly Competition Mr. Kadono, Leader of the Japan Mission, replying referred to the visit of Lord" Barnby's Mission to Japan in '1934, and said "That Mission contributed immensely to the promotion of mutual understanding and goodwill between the business" interests of our two! countries. One at the concrete results of that visit was the formation of' the F.B.L. Anglo-Japanese Trade Relations Committee and of its sister body the Japan-British Trade Committee of ihe Japan Economic Federation In Tokyo. These (we organzations represent vital business. interests of the two countries and are the expression of the keen desire both sides to adjust their economic and trade differences through the So far as our two countries are concerned, we believe that there is nothing in our current trade relations which need cause anxiety that the traditional Anglo-Japanese friendship will be seriously disturbed, Sir Frederick Leith-Ross, proposing the toast of Anglo-Japanese relations salé—
I hope that the members of the Japan Economic Mission will talk folly' and frankly with those reoresentatives of British Industry with whom they come into contact. T am convinced that if they do so they will be assured that we in this country have ever the desire to establish good trading relations with Japan, 'T hope that the Mission, when it returns to. Japan, will be able to make this clear, because when T was in Japan T found that the United Kingdom was frequently criticized as creating or inspiring dimeulties for Japan. 1 really do not think that such eritielsms are borne out by the facts.
We, like Japan, are an Island power dependent upon exports for the support of our population, and while we have had to defend one eegnomy by the adoption of moderate tariffs we have done less than almost larly country in the way of imposing eitrietions on imports, The trade exchanges of the United Kingdom with Japan give Japan a very favour-fable balance. Our Colonies similarly offer a very important market for Japanese manufacturers, "and. their: Fesources are open to development by Japanese companies.
The main diticulty relates to textiles. In regard to these the effects of unregulated competition have been '$0 severe that we have had to resort to the quota system, But we did so only after efforts to arrive at an understanding had, proved fruitless, fend we then fixed these quotas on fas fair a basis as possible, giving Japan an assured share of an oxpans ing market. T believe that It isin the interests of Japan to work out some arrangement which will avoid excessive competition in this eld, and T still hope that some arrangement may be arrived at which may fenable quotas to be replaced to the mutual advantage of both our eountries, T have been recently in China with the object of seeing if anything could be done to restore a more stable financial economic position in the Interests, firstly of China herself, and then of all countries trading with China, Only by making China more prosperous can we hope to improve trade with China, and the country which Is likely to gain most from the more prosperous state of things in China is Japan, The trade figures during the past - year.show how Japanese exports to China have been expanding and I believe that this development cane - carried much further if a belter understanding can be reached between China and Japan.
much hope that it may be possible to smooth away the dimeulties that} still exist between these two countries, as T feel that it is in the interests of both our countries to ce-operate in restoring a strong, Peaceful and prosperous China. 1 fam very glad to see the Japanese
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.