EMPIRE TRADE.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1693, 8 March 1913, Page 2

EMPIRE TRADE.

IMMIGRATION FIGURES. GEOLOGICAL DATA. THE SHORT SUPPLY OP COAL. POSTAL & CABLE MATTERS. The Trades of Empire Commission resumed its sittings in Wellington yesterday. Tho chairman (Sir Edgar Yincont) presided. Sir. J. Eman Smith, Secretary for Immigration, supplied the. following facts tiqd figures to the commission:—From 1901 to 1912, 2-1,585 souls wero assisted, with a capital of <£690,346. During tho years,l9o4 to 1912, 24,585 souls cost .£91,918, or j::j 15s. per head.; If the 24,585 souls had come out freo it would have cost £196,284, or ,£8 per head. Out of 24,585 arriving between tho years 1904 i and 1912, 8749 were domestics, and 4662 wero farmers and farm-labourers. 1 , I have' the honour to state, for your information, figures taken from a' return by the Labour Department and a report by the Farmers' Union, in regard to tho shortage of labour' which now exists in tho Dominion; notwithstanding the fact that there was an excess of arrivals over departures, as follow:—

I ani of opinion that when further information'is to hand from the Farmers' Union and from: tho persons now carrying on tho various industries throughout tho Dominion, it will bo found that the numbers required will be 'far greater than those now before you. As an illustration of,'this, I would.point out to you that so far as- the report goes, tho various trades and industries require 2941 persons. Out of this number, Wellington and ilwo i I? alone, want 1673, leaving only 1268 for the rest'of the Dominion; In regard to the !shortage in tho Dominion of domestic servants, the ■ numbers arriving annually show a steady increase. They are:— ' ■ •

So this year tho women arriving show an average .of 89 per month, as against 85 per month for 1912, and I thereforo anticipate that the total for 1912 will be reached and probably exceeded by:the total for tho year 1913. The Shortage. The shortage .of labour was set forth as follows:— \ j i or jndustries— Men, 861; women, 1864: boys, 21G; total, 2941. ' lor farmers—Men, 3000; domestics, 2000; boys, 200; total, 5200. Approximate total-Men, 3861; women and girls, 1864; domestics, 2000; boys 416 • fraud total, 8141. ' ' f' 10 °' lalr ! llan! The present demand for labour would absorb at onco tho tot il importation: of .last year. An employer saws S°i get . t ' le of assisted pasn wlshe / out workors unless they were farm labourers or domestic servants, and even then ihe arrangement would have to bo made through the Government. /Personally, lie thought the class of immigrant coming out could be unproved very much. What New Zealand. required ( were country domcstics uud country labourers..

Sir Edgar Vincent: Have you found that wh?n you bring out people, from the towns they develop into satisfactory

; Mr. Smith: I have only had on© experience of that, and that was -the' ■ importation 0 t some fifty 'lads'.under tho Sedgrwick system.' \ I had reports from pasangers on the 'ship on which they arrived to tho effect that their characters were not satisfactory. Sir Edgar Vincent: Surely it was rather premature to judge-them on board - the ehip? ..

'Mr.'Smith said that since their arrival tliey had been under tho supervision of tho Secretary for Labour, who would turnisli evidence as to their conduct since their arrival. « To Sir Alfred Bate man: ■ He believed that ui' the four largest cities in New Zealand 10,000 domestic servants could be immediately."employed. Harnett: His advice was that of the fifty Sedgwick boys, 37 were of good character, and 13 were unsatisfactory. Customs Method.

Mr. M , B.'-Montgomery, Secretary for Customs, gave evidence as to details of Customs administration in New Zealand, especially as to the form of certificate required to entitle goods tp preferential duties. • He said lie did not consider the present method of making out Customs statistics satisfactory. More trouble should be taken to ascertain the country of origin of imports. ' On Cable Rates,' Mr. W. R. Morris, Secretary for the Post Office, gave evidence ! concerning pablo rates and the Pacific cable. At prc•sent New Zealand was anxious to l have tho cable rates, via Pacific, reduced. At present New Zealand received Id, per word on New Zealand business, whereas Australia charged sd. Tho board accept* ed Is. ajd. ppr word from Australia, but from Now Zealand they required Is. 10ic|. It was really tho unfair terminal chargo of sd. a word mnde by Australia which prevented a reduction • of. the rate. New Zealand was negotiating with a view to having the contribution of Now Zealand reduced to make it the same as tliat of Australia. If the rate demanded by the board were reduced the rate in New Zealand would be reduced to 2s. 8d! The Government did not ask for tho reduction in order to make money by. it. The Pacific cable was laid in the first instance, because of the high rates chargeable, which were then as high as 10s. (id. per word. They wero now reduced Id 35., and with each succeeding reduction in rates tho traffic and the income had increased. He did not think that further reductions would so increase the number of messages as to impair the efficiency of tho. cable by causing delays. The capacity of the Pacific cable was seven million .words per nnnum, and it was now transmitting only two million words.

To Sir Rider Haggard: It was not at all improbable that if a considerable reduction were made the volume of business would bo' ,so increased as to recoup the sacrifice made in rates. Also it might be possible to do very much more business without very largely, increasing tho expenses of management.. Every previous reduction had resulted in an increase of business.- Even if such a heroic reduction wero made as to make the rate sixpence a.word it was quite possible that the increased use would completely wipo out tho loss, and it would ne of enormous advantage to commerce. Tho Eastern Extension Cable- was "All Red"—the cable on wliich messages came from London to AVakapuaktt touched at 110 place which was not British.-

Mr. Campbell: Is it not a fact 1 that, the Cable Hoard have estimated that carrying the full load 011 ,tlio cable tho lowest rato at which messages could bo sent would be Is. 'Id. per word? > Mr. Morris said he was not' awnre that any such calculation had been made. To Mr. Tatlow: It was difficult to say whether tho cable could carry double the amount of business without any considerable increase of expenditure. This would depend very largely on the elasticity of tho present staffing, mid with that lie was not familiar.

To Mr. Sinclair: He thought the proportion of tho Ss. charge taken by the Atlantic Cable Companies—ls.—was unduly high. To Sir Alfred llntemau: He did not caro to give his opinion as to whether wireless would ever compete with cables. It was cnpable of such tremendous development that its potentialities could not be foreseen. Hut as it was now, it could nover compete with cables. To Sir Edgar Vincent: lie was quit© satisfied with the speed and frequency of our ocean mail services. Tho maximum times from London to New Zealand centres wero from 111 to 37 days. Sir Edgar Vincent: They're longish times, von know. ill'- ilorris: Of course vo can cut the

time down by paying bigger subsidies,' Sir Edgar Vincent: I suppose there is no special demand for au accelerated service? ' lII'. Morris: No.

Sir Edgar Vincent: I think you are easily satisfied. Arc you living' in hopes of more rapid communication in tho days that uro not now, when tho .Panama Canal is open ? ' Mr. Morris: It is just a question whether the Panama Canal will givo us a faster service, unless wo put .on faster, vessels. ,' ■' Sir Edgar Vincent: Are you laying your plans for speeding-up in view of . tho Panama Canal? Mr, Morris: I don't blow that-wo aro. Ho added that there \vas a strong feeling here in favour of tho All-lied route. Preferential Freights. Mr. W. G. Wickham, Imperial TradeCommissioner in JS T ew Zealand, gavo an acoount of his duties in New Zealand, and presented himself for 'examination... Ho stated that ho had li(ul definito instances of preference given by shipping lines for' through freights from America and Germany, as compared with London, Ono instance concerned agricultural machinery,- 011 which tho through freight from New York, via i.ondon to Lyttclton was quoted at 283. 3d., whereas the freight from London in tho same vessel was 50s: In the same way lie had had reporttd: to mm just as great a preference on goods from Hamburg. Direct steamers ciuno from New-York, and although they wero 110 dircct steamers from Germany, ho thought the trad© was sufficient to justify the putting on of direct steamers. Discussing tlv© balance of trad© question n ready frequently referred to,'he said: 'Tho whole argument about cxnorts and imports seems to mo to ho a "little bit fogged. A very largo part of the imports here are simply purchases by tho Government, which aro merely tho expending of tho loans, which have already been taken into consideration." . ' To Mr. Sinclair: Ho would follow .up tho cases of preference which he had mentioned. 1 ' • , ■ ' ' To Sir Eider Haggard: The only reason lie could assign for such a huge difference in rates was that the shinning companies feared competition l>y outside lines. „ Facts about Minerals. Mr. J. H. Morgan, Slate Geologist, gave evidence as to the mineral resources of New Zealand. The amount ■of proved bituminous coal in .New Zealand was nbout 374,000,000 tons, and. of''this-riot more than 100,000,000-.tons would bo mined. Of glance or Ditch coal containi»g a few per cent, of water, the proved qmultity was 114,000,000 tons: the probnblo quant% would be. about 455,000,000 tons and .nbout one-third or ■ one-' lonrt l would be mined under present conditions. Of brown coal or lignite thero were 513,000,000 tons proved, and the pro® bablo amount would be; 2,080,000,000 tons. Ut these brown coals not more than onc-fourth-or. one-fifth could bo mined. Tho towl proved coal of all classes was just over 1,000,000,000 tons. Certainly not more than one-fourth of that could be mined, iho .probable coal was'about ,3,385,000,000 tons, but less than one-fifth of this could' lie mined, lor present requirements tho supply was ample, but when the'futurenas taken into consideration the supply tt'as really limited. Ile spoke also of tho deposits of iron, gold, and other minerals. Li-ospects of petroleum I could bo found many parts of New Zealand, but nowhere had an'assured supply been found, the New Plymouth field was tho most promising,-but the yield there had .not tulnlled expectations. Thero was a great deal of water power -in New Zealand, but it would cost a great deal to' harness it. .Sir Kider Haggard: Evidence has beon' given to us which painted the resources of New Zealand in iron and coal in vcrv Blowing terms I think what yim have told us, scarcely bears out-theso glowing statements? .

Mr. Morgan: No, it does -not bear out tlioso glowing statements. . ■ ' ' . ; Sir Rider Haggard:"What you have laid befort- us is probably a true presentment' of the facts?. • . : il-

Mr. Morgan: .There is no more bitumin-. ous cojvJj '£he bituminous coal has already- 'been •' fully . explored, lhis. is not'so of brown coal and lignite; there are' probably large discoveries to be' made of brown coal. He.added that manuv furfures,could be run on inferior coa!,.if, it could be obtained chon ply-enough. Sir Eider Haggard: How long will the coal lastp • ; Mr. Morgan: If- no extraordinary. de-N mands are made upon-it, the coal will last forabout 100 years. • ■ Sir Rider Haggard: Then it is really a question whether it ought not to bo husbanded for national purposes? Mr. Morgan: I think that really it ought to be husbanded or conserve in some ■ , In answer to further queries, he said the amount of iron- in- sight- was rclal- - small. In short, New .Zealand was not; likely ever to be a great mineralproducing country—it . would certainly never produce much coal- aud iron. ' In reply to Mr. Lorimer, lie said that the prospects of oil had been'numerous.' but no field had been proved, yet. It was true, tliat refinery with incapacity of 10,000 gallons .a day was being erected nt New .Plymouth, but tho .capacity of the wells did not approach'; this. '-"The field was not proved, and more prospecting shimld have been carried out before the refinery was erected. .-

The Commission! adjourned, until 111 a.m. to-day. . . '

Yesterday morning members of the Commission were shown over the Petone Woollen Mills, and .in the afternoon Mr. Garnett and Mr. Bo'wring went out to Trentham to see tho end of the ■ rifle .meeting there, To-day tho Commissioners, are to visit the State Farm at Wereroa. On Tuesday some members of the Commission propose to go to Taranaki by h'aiu. They will be given an opportunity of looking over the oil wall's',- find, viewing some of the dairying country in tho district. This contingent will probably go on by steamer to join file other Commissioners at Auckland. The Commission will conclude its inquiries hero on Tuesday.

In 1908 14,261 In; 1909 4,719 In 1910 3,408 . In 1911 4 ogg In,.1912 8,927 . Total • 35,515

1910 , gi 1911 " 831 J912 ■. z:./1,020 1913 (10 months) ; 890