EMPIRE TRADE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18894, 8 January 1927, Page 16

EMPIRE TRADE.

WHOLESALE SOCIETY'S INTEREST. DIRECTORS IN AUSTRALIA. (FBOtt ODH_OWK CORRESPONDENT.) SYDNEY, December 30. Interesting visitors from England at present in Sydney are Sir Thomas Allen, Mr J. English, and Mr W. G. Charter, directors of the Co-operative Wholesale Society of Great Britain. They are touring Australia and New Zealand, and are meeting in conference the leading and banking .men in the two dominions. The society they represent is a federation of 1200 retail societies, of which the capital is £43,000,000, and the annual trading turnover from £75,000,000 to £80,000,000. The society is largely interested in Empire trade relations, especially with Australia and New Zealand, aa much'of the produce of these two dominions is handled by the thousands of retail shops under the control of the society in all parts of Britain. Producer and Consumer. An important feature of the visit of the directors to Australia and New Zealand, is their endeavour to ejiminate as many as possible of the intermediaries between the producer _ and the consumer. They are not visiting the dominions to buy or make contracts, but to confer with the directors of co-operative organisations with _ a view to the establishment of a policy which, if accepted, would, be followed by definite business And trade relations at an early date. One of the directors (Mr Charter) explained the objects of the visit in more detail. He said that it need not necessarily follow because they represented an organised body of consumers, that they wanted to get goods nt the cheapest possible price. Their object was to provide their people with goods of tho best quality at the lowest possible price consistent with that good quality, and with conditions governing production. Britain was a manufacturing country, and it could purchase Australian and New Zealand products only as the result of the sale of its goods. There was a considerable agitation by the British Ministry in favour »f the wider purchase of Empire goods and products. He was glad to notice that in the last few years there had been improvement in the quality aud "get-up" of Australian and New Zealand goods. Regarding tho fixation of prices for such products as dried

fruits, Mr Charter said that the prices must not be fixed at a figure greater than world parity.