TRADE COMPLEXITIES

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2256, 16 September 1914, Page 6

TRADE COMPLEXITIES

INTERDEPENDENCE OF NATIONS. ,■■',,' • ■ 6 • 'Speaking of the commercial relationships involved in the war at the New Zealand Club's luncheon yesterday, Mr. W. G. Wickham (British Trade' Commissioner) said that they had r.ot the material for anything 6ave the hardest generalities. "Most of us, I hope, realise," said ho, "that .the \question: 'Who is going to gain most?' has been replaced by 'Who is going to lose least?' On of the most unfortunate of inaccurate generalisations on trade is the common liabit. of referring to international trade as.'.an exchange of commodities. I admit that no sttitis-1 tics are detailed enough to show the exact proportions of finished to semimanufactured goods, but there is no question as to the huge bulk of in-' ternational trade in raw or semi-manu-' fo.ctured products. 'Finished manufactured goods other than food represent only about 10 per cent, out of the total of £769,000,000 imported into England last year. .Whole books could be filled with instances of international dependence. I will only give you four or five. German mohair braid is mado from Bradford yarn, spun from Australian wool. Lancashire lives by supplying foreign weavers with cotton yarn,' just as engineers all over the world dopend on Sheffield for steel, and British works depend on low-grade Continental iron and steel. Swedish or Spanish ore becomes Sheffield_ steel, is made into watch springs in Switzerland, and so finds its way. into American .watches. Sealskin coats have been throo or four times to Paris and' back to'iLondon before they are'finished. . Emeralds go to India to be cut, Indian rubies and sapphires, roughly cut, go to Europe to bo recut, diamonds go to Belgium and Holland, New Zealand greenstone goes _to Germany, and tho best jewel-mounting is done in Paris." When the Oceanic Company's steamer Sonoma arrived at Honolulu from Sydney, via Pago Pago, on August 14, she ' reported that the United States cruiser jPrincetown had been sunk at Pago Pago. In command of Lieutenant Beal, the vessel struck an uncharted rock near tho entrance of Pago Pago Harbour, and for a while it was thought that she would fill and sink where sho struck. She was finally pot off, and with all speed made for- tho harbour. She sank at her moorings shortly after ' being made fast, and when the Sonoma left Pago Pago her decks wore barely ' above water. Wrecking and pumping ' apparatus has been sent for at San I Francisco, according to an exchange. ' and if the vessel can be raised sho will '■ lo sent to New Zealand for repairs. 11