BUSINESS PROPOSALS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2394, 25 February 1915, Page 9

BUSINESS PROPOSALS

TRADE AND OTHER MATTER A DEPUTATION TO THE PRIME MINISTER A number of mutters of considerable publio impnrtauco wore voicod by a. deputation to tlio Prime Minister (tbo Jtiglili lion. W. F. Maasoy) from tho Council of tlio Wellington Central (Jlimnkor of Commerce yostorday. TJio pronklonl, (Air. C. M. Luko) eaid that lilio Cliamboi' had not come to add to tlio many troublos proflsiji'' on tho Prime Minlstor, but hoped to liolp him in somo rospocts. Tho Bimutaka deviatiou was tlio first mattor montionod, and thoy thought tho survov should bo prossod on as fast as possible. Tho mattor waa one, ho. said, that should not bp loft to exports alono, and a commission of conunorcial moil might assist. . 'J'rado with tho Amorican wost coast ports of Southern Amcrica was another mattor they desired to speak on, aud suggested the appointment of a permauont commissioner. Oversoa shipping and oxcossivp charges and tho dosiro that foodstuffs exported to neutral oountrios should' not roach tho onomy wcro otlior matters thoy dosired to touch on. Tho difficulty as to goods on interned vessels, he understood, was now settled. On tho question-of importation of. locomotives, Mr. Luko eaid that they woro not going to hark back to what had boon done, • but they would liko to stress that in the future contracts should not bo , lot. to foreign countries. Further, the Board of, Trade proposal of tho Prime Minister had thoir heartiest approval' and support.'

j Bills of Lading. Mr. "A: Leigh Hunt' defflf particuiai-. ly with the question of bills of lading,' especially in- regard to the .clause enabling the shipping companies,. not-' withstanding the issue of a. prepaid bill of lading, to collect ,the' freight at the other end if they we're of opinion that the agent had not paid the freight to. their office. He mentioned a case where this had takan place. The Chamber thought v tho position' -was ■ entirely wrong, and was unjust, as hitherto a bill of lading had been looked upin as a document of value'. If the practice instanced by him was to'become, general, the bill of lading could no longer be looked npon as of valuo If the shipping company issued a prepaid bill, of lading it should, ipso facto, be evidence, .that ■ the freight had been paid. The position had arisen owing to the war.'They believed that if the Government considered,the matter they would be able to pass some domestic legislation to meet the case. There ■ were quite a number of these, cases now, said Mr. Hunt, and,' there was. not the slightest chance of a refund in many of them. The principle .was likely to be applied'in times of peace as well as war if nothing was done.

Export of Foodstuffs. Mr. H. G. Hill put tho following resolution, passed by the Chamber, before the Prime Minister:—''That the Government be requested to take such steps as are necessary to provide that all foodstuffs, going from New Zealand to neutral countries shall not be for the enemy, and, further ; if the needs of the British Empire during the war are. such that it requires all the foodstuffs produced by the overseas dominions, then the Government will immediately prohibit the export of foodstuffs .to countries outside the British Empire and her Allies."

Mr. Massey said that ♦he matter was already dealt with. He'had sot the proclamation before "him, prohibiting the export of meat except to England. They had already prohibited the export of wheat and flour. Mr. Hill said that exportation of hides, pelts,, rabbits, etc.j should be prohibited. They were needed by the Imperial Government. ' . Mr. Massey said that they were in communication with the Imperial .Government every week, and whenever an intimation was made that -the exportof any article to a neutral country was likely to reach the eifemyi the.' exportation of it was prohibited.' In the'ease of merino wool, a guarantee' had been given by an association in America that it would not reach the enemy.

Mr. Hill mentioned the case of a shipping company advertising to sail for New York, via Panama Canal,, from New Zealand, and suggested that the ships might be commandeered for trade to England. Mr. Massey:. Show me an insulated ship, and I will see that it does not go outside New Zealand, but we don't need toi commpidser ordinary;' cargo ships.

Control of Corman Companies. Another matter stressed by Mr. Hill was that companies trading m Australasia with foreign capital should be prevented from escaping liability for payment of inoqme tax. In this, connection be mentioned the case of the Continental Tyre Company. Mr. Massoy explained that the Official' Assignee was controlling the affairs of the company in New Zealand,- with a view to winding the business up. He was not importing any goods to piit' on sale in this country, and he was not allowing any money to .go out. Thatwould be held until the' wflr came to an end, and would be. taken: into, account'in the final settlement!--Mr. G. Reid'suggested; that the exportation 'of rabbits to America shbuld' be prohibited. Mr. Hill pointed out that there was a possibility this season that' a large number of rabbits might be canned,- and these might reach the enemy.

PRIME MINISTER IN.REPLY. RIMUTAKA DEVIATION. In replying, Mr. Massey dealt with those matters he had not' fully touched oil. So far as tholtimutaka deviation was concerned, he said, the deputation W apparently informed that the survey had been commenced, and he knew that it would bo gono on with.. Ho did not know how long it would require to mako tho survey, bub hb realised, as overybody must, who had gone over the Bimutaka, that the matter was of great importance, and something should bo done. Their difficulty now was to find the money for all tho works, as on account of the war money was not so oasily obtained. He looked upon the matter as of urgent importance,' and it should bo gono on with. Ho would havo pleasure in referring the request that a commission of commercial men should bo appointed to confer with the exports to his colleagues, and if it was thought best it would be agreed to. Tho matter of interned vessels had already been dealt with. As to trade with the American west coast ports ho had already shown that ho had considered tho matter by appointing a 1 Commissioner to roporfc upon tho possibilities of the fruit trade with South America. Tho reports, so far as thoy had gone, woro very satisfactory indeed, unci they showed that Now Zoaland fruit-growore wore holding thoir own in. tho markots of South America, aiid' there was tho'' possibility of groat development. Ho nad no doubt out'that Now Zoaland would bo ablo to do a big trado, particularly in.'apples and pears, with South America. Whorever it was nosHiblo to oncourago that industry he Itiul dono it. Coming to tho question of bills of lading, lie recognised tho importance of .what had been oaid by. iVlr. Loigh Hunt, and he would refer the mutter to the Grown Law Office, and If legislation was

I nocotiaary ho would ask Parliament to loKislnto wliu 11 tlio time came. (Hoar, hoar.) Cars With Our Exports. Tho Government liad discussed the ' question >,of exportation to the United States and other neutral countries, and ho <li<l jiot think anything more oould bu said.in the matter. Tnoy.had conhijJUxl the Imperial Government as to tlio prohibition, of export of all articles, with tho exception of wheat and flour, and thoy had none of those commodities to export. Tho prohibition' of oxport of wheat and Hour would continue so long as a scarcity existed, and the Government would continue to remit' the duty on it as long as the need was felt, lie had had a statement made to him by tho officer placed iu charge of the matter, slwiving tho prices now offered /or wheat iu Canada compared with the prices a few months ago. Ho had made a statement that 9d. per bushel had boon saved on tho cargo<»of tho Hornclou and Hesperos, but he. had underestimated it. They purchased tho wheat for 1 dollar 21J cents, and it waa now worth in Fort William (Canada) 1 dollar 59J cents for bushel, so that tho saving had beon 38 3-Bths cents, or Is. 7d. per bushel, a saving of over £30,000. (The Imporial Government was very anxious that no oxporte from this country, whether foodstuffs or anything else, should bo mado available for the enemy, and tho Government was quito willing to see that nothing purchased in this country should be made available for any country .in arms again6t Britain, at the present moment. Mr. Heid: I think' you should add rabbits to the prohibited exports. Hr.'Masspy: Well,; I hadn't thought of rabbits. I see our exports of rabbits from New Zealand to America for tho year ending December 31, 1914, : was valued at £1044.

Those American Engines. Coming to the matter of the importation ot 'locomotives .from America, the Prime Minister' said that he had road'.the report of the discussion at the Central Chamber of and there was very little he could disagree witfr, but thoy had got into this position in this'-country: It became necessary .to import an expert to manage our railways, and that gentleman had'been occupied most'of the time in New : Zealand' in visiting' the different railway centres, and drawing \up a report on the conditions ' of the ..New Zealand railways. Ho was emphatio on the subject of what the Railway Department needed Si the way of railway .engines. The business was increasing, but there'was'a great disability owing to the shortage of engines. ' All places in New Zealand were full, and Messi.s Price Bros, could not'possibly do any more than they were doing, during tiie next two years. The Suggestion was made that the railway workshops should be enlarged, and that suggestion was being gone <Jn with. Personally, he remembered the-. difficulties iast grain season, owing to the breaking, dcwri of engines. The instructions of - the Government wero'that if it 1 was possible for Mr.'Hiley to get the new'-engines in Britain he was to do so. He bad reported that it was absolutely impossible to get the engines from Britain at the present time, on account of the extra Work required in the' shops at Home owing to the war. He (Mr. Masse.y) happened. to know that Britajn ■herself was getting a large quantity of iron work done in the United States at the present time. "

• A Matter of Urgency. That was the position ' reported by Mr. Hiley, and they ocrald not possibly carry on without additional engines. • The Minister of Railways then consented to an order being placed in America. It had been'suggested that they might have gone to Canada,' but' Mr. Hiley reported that it was not advisable to increase the number of. types. _ They had a number of Baldwin engines. m use, and they were satisfaction; so the order was placed with the Baldwin Co. He wanted them to understand that the. Government very tinwillingly consented to the .importation of those engines, and had- it been possible to'obtain them in Britain it would have been done. The urgency for the engines was shown by the fact that in this country they _ had forty-four ■ engines running which were over forty years old. ,'. , • Mr. 'Luke: Offer inducements to other firms in New Zealand. Mr. Masse.y: We are quit© prepared to do'so; We applied to every firm in New Zealand, likely to build engines. There is nobody m this country who feels more strongly about this than I do myself, and I say plainly and positively that where it is possible to > produce what is required by us here, it should be done. (Hear, hear.) lam very pleased to have the resolution you have placed in my. hands to-day, and I can only tell you that I have intended to give effect to it.:' ' ■ Mr. Massey mentioned that very good work had been done by Price Bros, in building engines;' and he understood that they could be kept employed for many years. Other firms would bo able'to have the same opportunities in the future'; A Board of Trade. As to the setting'up of a Board of Trade, he had already' expressed his opinion of the value of such a. body, and if legislation was necessary he. proposed to submit'it to Parliament during the coming session. Mr. Reid: We are waiting for it, and one of the matters dealt with should "be a. revision, of' the, conditions of bil)s of lading. I ' ' 1 The deputation then ■ thanked the Prime: Minister and withdrew.