SOME FRANK REMARKS

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1971, 30 January 1914, Page 8

SOME FRANK REMARKS

"% BY TRADE COMMISSIONER. . BUND EYES TO BRITISH CQO&S, Mr. W. G. WickliaM, the British Board of Trade Commissioner for New Zealand, leaves to-day.for Sydney, en route to England, and anticipates being absent from the Dominion for six or.seven months. ,This trip is purely a business one, as it is a set policy of tlio board that its representatives* should be kept up to date in what is taking place in trade circles at Home, and also in personal touch with those manufacturers who produce goods required in the oversea dominions. Mr. Wickharn lias been in New Zealand for two years, and holds tho opinion that the. establishment' of a Commissioner hero has been beneficial to British trade.

What One Firm Did., ■ Mr. Wickhani is, however, quite frank in. stating that.tho position- is hardly so satisfactory as he would like it to be. Ho savs tliat he lias found that many business people, whom he is perfectly sure that ho (as. representative of tho board) could assist, hare been impervious to his ndvahces, even though ho is out to give, not-to receive. Some of them, lie states, cannot conceive thttt there should be. such an institution .in existence—ono that is almost in daily toiieh with every big 'manfaehircr in tho Old Country.' He Ims known- a, «ase where a New Zealand . firm' advertised for agencies, which had: practically been' offered them through the agency-of his board's circulars. When ho. wrote reminding the 'firm of .that fact,, tho latter did not even trouble to reply

. Trade Prejudices.to Fight. . Of course;' Mr.. Wiekhtvm irdded, the keen man business has taken full advantage of tho board's activities, but there- are, so many people in business in New Zealand who' are not keen, and will not pay attention to what is directly in their individual; interest, ,-and also in tho interest of: British' . tradei generally. Thcro were easels, too,.'.said Mr. Wickham, where foreign firms .had got-in early and established their goods as the standard article—goods - which -were made better., and . just as cheaply in England. . Such prejudices were difficult to remove. Tho firms ; might- bo doing well enough with tho foreign article, and perhaps.there was no reason wily they should change, but, iii tho interest of British trade—tho life-blood of a nation—they niigl.it' at. least listen .to tho representations regarding the Britishmade article.' . '.

Statistics that Mislead. -Mir. Wiekham could not give, off-fetid, fignres respecting' tho; respective. . increase? and decreases ill the importation of British and foreign-manufactured goods. The statistics -of the past, ,ho eaid,. had, hardly been worth the pnper which they were printed on, as they were only based 011 the country which they wore.invoiced from. That, is being rectified now—since. January 1 .of tins year—as goods have now to be labelled with the name of the country of origin. That, ha® been laid down on the initieitire "of tlio Minister. for Customs by regulations gazetted' sojite timo ago. In the past, said' Mr. Wickham; the figures respecting goods imported from Australia .have .been misleading. lii many.cases Japanese.goids have been re-invoiced from Australia, and it is the samo with German, French, and American manufacturers.

Astonished. * .Finally, > Mr. Wickliam - drew , atten-. tio-n to a cirtiilar isst'tcd by fee CWinmercial Department of the Royal Colonial Institute, Which proposes .'to undertake the same work as the British Bo&rd of Trade is doirig. Ho confesses that ho ban scarcely understand tho motive for such a move, as the. institute proposes to get. the samo information hero and elspwhero for tho «o)nd\British, manufacturers that arc- being posted by tho Board of Trade. 1. Commenting on th 6 test of tho circular, which, has appeared this week in the Wellington newspapers, Mr. Wickham points cut that it is almost word for word the samie as a circular recciitly issued by\the Commercial and Intelligence; Department of the British Board of Trade.