"BRITISH."
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The Use and Abuse of the Term.
WE ARE ALL AWARE that the term " British " is frequently abased, and that the motor industry is one of those in which examples of its abuse have occurred. One's first impression is that it Would be very simple indeed to legislate in such a way as to impose prohibitive penalties on anyone who might 'misuse this word, or any other term of similar significance.
Clearly, nobody ought to be allowed to profit by a claim of British origin made on behalf of his goods without full,justifioation. The question is however, what is " British " ? And a clear and fairly definite answer to this question must be forthcoming before we can decide whether the use of the term is justifiable or not.
In a complex organism like a roototcar, there are very many parts, and while the great majority of these may be British, some may necessarily be foreign, or, at any rate, constructed of raw material of foreign origin. What is one manufacturer's raw inaterial is the finished product of another. Can we say that some part manufactured in this country of, for example, Swedish iron is British? Can we say, again, that a ear built in British worksbut fitted with a foreign magneto is otherithan of mixed origin ? We all feel that we can differentiate easily enough between la motor vehicle that can fairly claim to be British and one that cannot ; but when it comes to framing a definition that will have any legal strength or significance, it is another matter. Hence arises one of the difficulties in adopting any legislation which Might, for instance, lay it clown that the Governments—national or local—of any part of the Empire should not purchase motor vehicles other than. of British origin.
In connection with any such proposals, probably the best course would be • to establish or appoint some authority which shall decide every individual case on its merits. The Board of Trade 'should be capable of acting in this capacity, since it is already really compelled to do so. The Department of Commercial Intelligence maintains a special register of British firms, to -which certain information of a confidential Llharaca ter is sent from time to time in return for a nominal annual subscription. The Department has to decide whether any particular firm can properly be admitted to the register, and if it can do this it can, presumably, decide equally well whether any particular manufacturer has a right to tender for contracts which are only open to British goods. In fact, -a special register for this purpose also might be kept. .
The position of the ordinary individual buyer is different. He cannot very well ask a Government Department,to decide for him whether the vehicle he is thinking of purchasing is British or not. He anight, of course, inquire whether the name °hits 'manufacturer is included on the-special register, but it is questionable whether any Government Department would go so far as to advise individuals on delicate matters of this kind.
The difficulty of the whole subject is well indicated by the wordiagaof4the certificates which .have Ito be signed by manufacturers desirous of obtaining the advantage of the 'preferential 'tariffs when importing goods into the Oversea Dominions. At present, these certificates lack uniformity. 1n general, preferential terms are granted in respect of goods of which not less than 25 per cent. of the value ,--isrepresented by British labour and/or British material, though in some cases the 25 per cent. must be represented by British labour only.
There is evidently room for improvement here by stiffening up all the certificates so as to make the latter qualification general. Even then, the preference B44
would be available to goods really only assembled and not manufactured on British soil. The 25 per cent. limit is not—and is not intended to be—high enough to differentiate between genuine manufacture and mere assembly, or the work of finishing or preparing for market. The idea is that certain products have to be obtained from abroad in their raw state, or in the form of components partly ox wholly manufactured.
Certainly, industries of this class deserve encouragement. It is better that some processes should be carried on within the Empire than that all should be done abroad ; but it is very much open to question whether any Imperial preference should operate equally in respect of such goods and of goods really of British manufacture.
In the ease of a motor vehicle, the effect of the old regulations has been to put the assembled car on a par with the British manufactured ear, as a result of which the preferential terms have not acted as any inducement torforeign manufacturers to establish on British soil anything more complete than mere assembly shops. This position would be fairly well met if two scales of preferential tariff were introduced—the one applied to goods conforming to the present demiLion based on 25 per cent., and other and higher tariff only applying to goods of which not less than 75 per cent. of the value was represented by British laboul and British material.
A scheme of this kind would, in effect, amount tc the establishment of an arbitrary alefirution of the word "British," and is a more practical method of differentiating than any 'attempt to penalize firms which use that term, or others of similar significance, under questionable 'circumstances.
It is, however, imperative that steps be taken to prevent any firm from using the term "British" in its title, or in the title of any of its goods, except under licence. The word "Imperial" is already, in a measure, protected in this kind of way. The existing Merchandise Marks Act might perhaps be made to operate in doubtful cases, 'but-at present it appears to be little more than a dead letter, as there is no official willingness to take action on the grounds that foreign goods may be la.loelled with a distinctively British name.
There are many people who prefer to buy British rather than foreign machines, provided that they can get good value for their money, and the problem really is to help those people to decide whether a given machine is British without involving themselves in the risk of unpleasant litigation. A scheme which is perhaps likely to prove as effective as any is that which has been adopted by the Association of British Motor and Allied Manufacturers. This 'association has a badge which may be used only by its members, and is intended to be employed in connection with advertisement matter, as well as in trade literature and -on letter headings. It might, of course, be argued that membership of an -association of this -sort is not necessarily a sure guarantee of the British origin of a firm's goods. The fact remains, however, that very applicant for membership has to run the gauntlet of his own competitors, who are not in the least likely to offer to share their privileges with those who are not properly qualified. If any error were made at all, it would be, more likely to be on the side of too much strictness. Thus, we may be fairly confident that if a firm can show its right to use the badge of a manufacturers' organization which is essentially British, the right of that firm to describe at least the bulk of its goods as " British" is beyond dispute, and there will be no disposition to conceal the origin of any foreign "