EASTERN MARKETS

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20489, 7 March 1932, Page 10

EASTERN MARKETS

OUTLET FOR DOMINION'S TRADE. AWAKENING POPULATIONS. The potential value to New Zealand of trade with the Orient, and the need to establish the neeessary relations to that end, formed the subject of an address by Mr J. E. Straehan, headmaster of the Rangiora High School, to the Canterbury Fruitgrowers' Association on Saturday evening. Mr Straehan •was for several months in the East as the leader of the delegation of the New Zealand branch to the recent Conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations at Shanghai. , It was not generally realised that New Zealand lay within 21 days of all the main ports that supplied 700 million people of the East, and, if India were included, one half of the' population of the whole world. Great changes were affecting the people of these, countries, for they were undergoing rapid industrialisation. A bigger proportion of the population was being turned from primary to secondary industries, resultjjj increasing necessity lor imported raw products and food supplies. There was also an' advance in the standard of living, with'consequent changes in habits, dress, food, luxuries—a big factor in the development of markets. Air Straehan emphasised the need for sending trade commissioners to the East, for a direct shipping service, for adequate financial arrangements, for tariff adjustments, and for the establishment of goodwill by the removal of discriminative restrictions against Orientals.

Openings in Japan. The process of industrialisation in Japan was so far advanced and primarv production so near the limit, that raw"materials and foodstuffs would have to be imported. The majority of Japanese men wore European pattern woollen clothing, tweed suits, and leather boots. This fact ought to be of particular interest to New Zealand, because of the increase in .the wool and leather trade | which it foretold.. . Japan also bought i wool from Australia and New Zealand, and had it made up in Shanghai and ; other places in China by cheap Chinese labour. The trend towards European tastes in food meant a rapidly rising demand for butter, meat, condensed and dried milk and cream, and fruit. In 1927 Japan imported butter worth £05,800,- mainly from Canada, Australia, and the United States, and only to a very slight degree from New Zealand. Even a small increase in the individual demand meant a vast market increase. From 1919 to 1927 Japan's importation of meat had increased from £1,500,000 . to £ 7,000,000, and her wool importation had advanced between 1914 and 1928 from £15,000,000 to £112,000,000. Position of China. A slight rise in the standard ot living of China, with its population of over 400,000,000, could make an enormous difference to New Zealand. At present the Dominion's exports to China consist almost entirely of butter, worth £IO,OOO yearly. It was wrong to think that the Chinese were all too poor to be worth considering I as potential buyers. J There were further openings in Hong-Kong, the Dutch East Indies, and the Federated Malay' States. Mr Straehan was firmly convinced that young and energetic business men should be over in the Bast studying marketing conditions and problems. Information received on bo£h sides of the Pacific was only casual, people in the East found difficulty in getting into communication with the right films, even when they wanted to do business with New Zealand, through New Zealand's lack of well-informed, official representatives over there; ,

DUNLOP PERDRIAU RUBBER CO. DIVIDEND ANNOUNCED. (PRESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.) WELLINGTON. March 5. . A cable received from the Dunlop Perdriau Rubber Company announces an interim dividend,, payable on March 81st, of 5 per-cent, for the half-year ended December 31st, 1931, on the preference shares. There is no interim' distribution on ordinary, shares. . The books close on Search 21st. ■ SIR OTTO NIEMEYER. Sir Otto Nienieyer, the English financial expert and director of the Bank cf England, has been invited by the Egyptian Government to become a member of a Royal Commission of Finance ' He will be asked to discuss recommendations for the future fiscal policy of the Government, following enquiries instituted by a Belgian financial expert, M. van Zeeland, who, it is understood, suggested the stabilisation ot the Egyptian pound. Sir Otto has also been mvited to assist* the Greek Government by reporting on its. financial and economic situation. He assisted the Australian Government in 1930 and the Brazilian Government last year. . I A SECRET FOR 1960. A sealed envelope has been given to the Cutlers' Company of Sheffield with the stipulation that it is not to be opened until the Cutlers' feast of 1960. It contains an account of the discovery of stainless steel and has .been given by Mr Harry Breafley, the discoverer of that metal. ENGLISH MARKETS. RUBBER, JUTE, AND COPRA. (UKITED CHESS ASSOCIATION—B*. ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH —COPYTtIGiTT.^ (Received March 6th. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, March 5. Fridav's closing prices were as'follows:— Potton —April shipment, 5.40 d per lb. Rubber —Para. 3Sd per lb; plantation, Bm yu f^March b April .£lB 17s 6d. Wpnn,—March, nominally £l9 ss. p._ r JjZ_March-April, South Seas, £l6 15s; plantation, Kabaul £l6 17. 6d. Tirpwt in e—'£2 19s 6d. beet sugar. FOUR MONTHS' PRODUCTION. ('Received March 6th, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON. March 5. Tt»Pt suear production for th» past tour months totalled 4,689,598 tons, London — O S g •Tune •• " A i September .. ... p -7 Liverpool- s - d - March • ■ • • c 'li Octobt* •• " 6 °*