TRADE RELATIONS.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2362, 19 January 1915, Page 3

TRADE RELATIONS.

THE CASE OF THE CONTINENTAL TIRE CO. "BUY ENGLISH GOODS" At tho meeting of the Council of the Central Chamber of Commerce, held yesterday afternoon, the chairman (Mr. C. M. Luke) announced that ho had received a communication from Mr. A. R. Hislop respecting a case which had been mentioned before, that of the Continental Tire Company. He assumed that the Public Trustee was acting as receiver on behalf of the Government, and merely holding the money and _ dealing with the stock in hand, making sure that the money did not reach tho enemy. Mr.' A. Edwards stated that tho Publio Trustee was the • receiver put into the Continental Tire Company by tho Government, and'his business was to dispose of .the goods and retain the money_ for the benefit of the country. Providing he sold the goods at a fair market, price, those in tho trade made no objection, but if he started to cut prices there would bo a howl from the ■vholo of the.trade throuEh the country. . In the course of a lengthy letter setting out the position, Messrs Hislop nnd Co. made reference to the following circular:— "Continental C. and G. Rubber Co. Pty., Ltd., corner Lichfield and Madras Streets Christcirjrch, N.Z., December, 1914:- , CONTINENTAL TIREB. "The War Regulations Act, 1914, and Regulations made thereunder, vide fJ.Z. Gazette, No. 127, dated November "o, 1911. Re tlm Continental C. and G. Rubber Co., Ltd., Dear sir,—ln terms of the Act referred to above and in accordanco with the Regulations made thereunder, the Attorney-General has by, warrant appointed the Public Trustee as the Controller of the Continental C. and G. Rubber Co., Ltd. This empowers the Public Trustee 'as controlled to carry on the business of the company, and as it is expedient so to do, he will accordingly carry on and use the present machinery of the company for the purpose. "The control of the company being thus in the hands of the Government, you may therefore continue to do business with it as, heretofore. "I shall be pleased if you will remit orders to the manager of the company or to me direct.—The Public Trustee, by T. D. Kendall, Local Deputy Public Trustee, Christchurch." Letter to the Minister. Under date December 24 Messrs, Hislop and Co. addressed tho following letter to the Hon. A. L. Herdman, Minister of Justice: —Dear sir,—Wo .beg to enclose herewith copy of circular received by us through the post, tvhich, as representatives for the Shrewsbury Challiner Tyre Co., of Manchester, England, we consider calls for some attention. You will pardon us Baying that it does seem a most extraordinary position that the Government, through thiir Public Tru6t Office, should be acting as the agents for a German firm in opposition to other firms as veil as ourselves, who are the direct representatives of British manufacturers. Wo have beeii informed that the Germany company referred to herein have enormous stocks in reserve in New Zealand and Australia, and as suggested in the circular, with the Government at its back, we are quite safe in "trading with the enemy..' It does seem to us an extraordinary position that the Government should enter t'lio market as "agents for a German concern" to the injury of British manufacturers, and we propose forwarding copies of the. circular to those in the Homeland whom ve have the honour to represent. Buy British Coods. The chairman said, in viewing the matter generally, that English manufacturers seemed to be alive to the position. They were being' flooded with pamphlets _ advertising British goods. The question . .was —How could they make their.people, alive to the fact? Mr. Edwards said the only way was to educatothe people to buy only goods made within the Empire. There seemed to be a tendency to foster trade with any nation but Germany. They should remember that only a hundred years ago the Germans were our allies, and the French our bitterest enemies. He thought they should be very careful, and not look upon the Allies as British. It was a danger the nation should look to. i Travellers' Tales. Mr. A. Leigh Hunt thought that one of the best mediums for educating the people was through the commercial traveller, who dealt directly with the retailer. Much could be done by really tactful travellers, who should be instructed in the matter. 'Mr. Geo. Winder put in a strong plea for the encouragement of local industry. Since the war the Americans had raised the price of a lot of their goods (hardware) 25 per cent., and on top of that clapped on another 25 per cent., making a_ 50 per cent, increase. Now was the time to encourage our own industries. He was confident that quite a. lot of goods oould bo made here if anyone had the enterprise to tackle it. 'I have 110 time for the Americans." eaid Mr. Winder, "they are too selfish, and tney have done themselves no good by putting up the price. The first and best thing wo can do is to encourage aur own industries." Sir. Luke: "Our own industries first every time, is what I say!" Mr. Winder quoted an instance w\are a.man had realised £1 per acre more for his land.because it was fenced with British, and'not American, wire. Can We Hold It? Mr. J. Reid said that the thing was could we hold the trade when we got it. ' "I believe that the dead,shall rise," said Mr. Reid to the accompany ment of smiles. People will buy cheapj and when you put in front of them an article that is British and another that is German, one being Is. 6d. and the other 25., one would find that they would invariably take the cheap German one. The secret of the Germans' success lay in the fact that they would take a British article which cost probably £20 and turn it out for £4 or £5. It looked' as good and gave similar results, but it had not the stability and life of the Britisli-inade article. To hold the trade they won from Germany they would have to follow German lines — do as the German does. But British peoplo were not going to work for the wages the Germans do. Ho had been there and knew how they worked/ He had spoken to a mail and asked him if he never got a half-hcliday in tho week. No; they worked on just the same from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Yet knowing all this, British people would buy tho cheap German article. The chairman: Some people. Mr. Reid: Yes, some poople. Of course there was a class of peoplo who could not afford to buy anything but th& cheapest articles. Mr. Fox: What's your remedv? Mr. Reid: I've got no remedy. If England gets tho trade, how is sho to hold it? Conditions will probably mean that trade will lapse back to the old way. Mr. Edwards said that the only way was edncatinc the public. Mr. Fit'/.gihhon proposed that every commercial travellers' cltib should bo written to on the matter of advocating British goods, and moved in that direction. Mr. Leigh Hunt suggested that the employers and Chambers of Commerce bo included in the motion, which was .auciovcd and earned.