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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1920. 



Editorial and Publishing Offices : 



MACMILLAN &■ CO., LTD.. 



ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON, W.C.2. 



Advertisementi and business letters should be 

 addressed to the Publishers. 



Editorial communications to the Editor. 



Telegraphic Address: PHUSIS, LONDON. 

 Telephone Number : CERRARO 8830. 



British Dyes. 



IN view of the present large importation of 

 German dyes into this country, a strong 

 appeal for the protection of the British dye in- 

 dustry is made by Dr. Herbert Levinstein in the 

 Morning Post of November 19. Dr. Levinstein 

 points out that the pledge given by Sir Albert 

 Stanley, President of the Board of Trade, on 

 May 15, igi8 — namely, that the importation of 

 all foreign dyostufis should be controlled for a 

 period of not less than ten years after the end of 

 the war — has never been redeemed, and adds : 

 " Nobody suggests that a prohibition of imports 

 N< ept under licence should be permanent. Ulti- 

 mately, the industry must flourish on its own 

 merits, prosper by its efficiency, by the originality 

 of its inventions, and by the scale of its opera- 

 'i)n.s." 



It would seem U> 1" a simple matter for the 

 < lovernment to allow imports under licence of 

 such dyes as are required, but not yet manufac- 

 tured, in this country, and to exclude those which 

 III be shown to be produced here in adequate 

 amount. That the position is not quite so simple 

 * as would appear from this is shown by the state- 

 <nt of the Prhne Minister so recently as 

 Mivember 11, to the effect that no guarantee 

 ! • •'uld be given that this measure would be brought 

 Ijefori- Christmas unless it could be shown that 

 '• measure was non-contentious, and by Dr. 

 ■vinstcin's own very serious and alarming state- 

 ment that since July last, owing to the large im- 

 portation of German dye.s which h»s lakm place, 

 NO, 2665, VOL. 106] 



a great injury has already been inflicted on tlie 

 dye industry, and consequently on the textile in- 

 dustries. Progress has been arrested, develop- 

 ments brought to a standstill, great plants closed 

 dcwn, and large numbers of workmen thrown 

 out of employment. At the same time, whilst 

 in July, 1914, the German supplies were above 

 80 per cent, of the dyes used in this country, in 

 July last the output of the British Dyestuffs Cor- 

 poration, Ltd., was greater in quantity, though 

 less in variety, than the total quantity of dyes 

 imported from Germany in July, 1914. 



The only conclusion that can be drawn from the 

 Prime Minister's statement is that opposition 

 exists to the apparently logical measure which the 

 dye manufacturers desire to see introduced, and 

 this can come only from the dye users. Dr. 

 Levinstein's statement shows, further, that 

 German dyes, of the same kind as are being manu- 

 factured here, are being bought on the large scale 

 in preference to the dyes m:ide at Huddersfield 

 and Manchester. Evidently the dye users have a 

 very strong preference for German dyes, even of 

 the commoner kind. It was to be expected that 

 the more complicated dyes which the Germans 

 produce, but which are not yet made in this 

 country, would be eagerly acquired by the dye 

 users when available, but that the British Dye- 

 stuffs Corporation would be compelled to close 

 down great plants and discharge large numbers of 

 workmen immediately following importation from 

 Germany was not anticipated, and is a matter of 

 most serious moment. 



There can be only two reasons for this : either 

 the products made by the British Dyestuffs Cor- 

 poration are not of the same quality as the German, 

 or they are of the same quality, but must 

 be sold at a higher price. Dr. Levinstein sug- 

 gests that the latter is the case, for he says : 

 "Owing to the depreciation of the mark, they 

 [the Germans] can undersell any English makers, 

 and yet make large profits." Whatever may be 

 the depreciation in the value uf the mark, it does 

 not appear that the Germans are underselling the 

 English manufacturers. As was stated recently 

 in these columns, the average price of the 1500 

 tons of German dyes mentioned in the House of 

 Commons as having been imported during the 

 first nine months of this year was ^s. iid. per lb. 

 Even supposing that part of this quantity con- 

 sisted of very highly priced dyes, presumably not 

 manufactured here, yet the quantity of the 

 cheaper class of dye.s must have been large if, as 

 wr mav presume, they were at least partly 



