BRITISH GOODS FOR BRITISH PEOPLE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2420, 27 March 1915, Page 13

BRITISH GOODS FOR BRITISH PEOPLE

FOR years the cry "British 1 goods for British People" has been heard in various forms throughout Britain and the Overseas Domin- ' ions, and some progress has been made with the movement' in favour of preference within the Empire for British products. But it remained for Germany, our keeneat business rival, and now our bitterest enemy, to give that movement a stimulus which nothing else had succeeded in giving it; and which promises to carry it forward and weld the Empire with closer commercial ties than could have been hoped for under ordinary circumstances for. a great many years to I come. ' ' ■ ' The whole-British nation has been stirred by the present .great war , into an active desire to demonstrate in every possible mariner its complete unity. The- British Domin- , ' ions have rallied to the aide of the in the field : bf battle; they have proclaimed their readiness to thati'may be demanded of them; their eyes have bfton opened : i» the tremendous ' possibilities of a self-contained nation afld they.'are .keenly desirous of assisting in any' effort which may have for its end a closor i Imperial relationship and the strengthening of tbe Empire. , Naturally; with Germany's overseas trade for. the time b&ing destroyed;-the . opportunity for replacing German goods with British products at ; once presents iteelf. But something more than-a temporary- advantage is nought. What is desired is that the British people throughout tKe! Empire should realise that they can assist to promote the wealth and-prosperity.of 'the nation to whioh they belong by making it a practice"to purchase-the products^of their own countrymen in .preference to-the products,of. other'nations. This does not mean that it will be possible or even desirable to exclude all other goods at all costs. It means; that the patriotic British citizen should, other things being anything like,equal in the matter of quality and» price, make it his business to secure the British-made article. That is, after all, a Bmall thing to the individual, but in the aggregate it would mean a big thing to the nation. . ;

'Imperial;track so encouraged must make rapid expansion. ~ In recent j®ars:ite'- growth has been very marked. For instance: while the exports of the United Kingdom to foreign countries in 1912 increased by 5 per cent., those to British possessions increased by'over 12 per cent. In 1897 the. inter-Imperial trade of the Empire amounted in value to £25,232,000,

whereas 25 years later'it had nearly', doubled,; being a little short of £500,000,000. The total trade of'the British Empire is far. in excess of that of any other nation; and' the same, of;course may, be said of its shipping. The total tonnage of British: shipping-at. .the .outset of the war ! was something'like 20,d00,000 t6ns'; : - the - nearest ■' rival, the United States, being only about one-third'that , tonnage; while Germany's tonnage was/about one-fourth of that ; of, Britain. • Tho British' Empire owns little,shoift of one-half of the steamer tonnage of • the whole world. To form some further 'idea of the growth and. size of the Empire, it may be that 50 years ago—-tliat is," in •' 1863—its area ; was . 6,659,000 square miles, and its population- 218,463,000. In 1913 both had nearly doubled in size: the area being 11,345,000 square miles,'and the popula-tion-417,148,000. That is to say, the area of the British Empire is almost three times the size of Europe.' It includes, >to quote a .writer in The .Financier, every variety of soil and climate; it'yields all the land and sea:products-of the temperate, the tropic,' and the frigid..zones;,it is unequalled as a treasure store of minerals,, and' it - has the enormous advantage in this electrical age of abundant water-power, for. oheap production on a grand scale. , The natural resources and wealth of the Empire,; still but partially developed, point to enormous growth in the future, and with that development immense increase' in trade. It may astonish many people to learn that of the world's total, gold production, which in 1912 amounted to £95,000,000,, no' less than £60,000,000 was produced within the British Empire. These a-ro but a few indications of the vastness of the commercial enterprises, and the resources' of the Empire, and the tremendous possibilities of future development.

So' far as New Zealand trade is concerned, of our 23 millions of exports in 1913 nearly 21 millions,went to British countries; while of our 22 millions of. imports over 18 millions came! from Britain and Overseas Dominions. Our imports from Germany , ,were valued at £637,000, and our exports to that country totalled only £337,000. These facts are very gratifying, but they can bo improved , on. It has been pointed out, and with truth, that one of Germany's greatest handicaps In the future will be her own' display of unscrupulous conduct since the war led to her throwing off the mask she has worn for bo long, M. iTves Guyot, recently writing on this subject, said: ■ "The Germans will suffer heavily from the moral atmosphere by which they have surrounded themselves. Many of • them have impudently declared that not only were they, in foreign oountries, financiers, merchants, manufacturers, but above all, spies. Personally every German will inspire a contemptuous distrust. They cannot count on seductivo methods to assist them in renewing and increasing their commercial relations. They will everywhere be considered a 9 undesirablo."

This may sound very sweeping,, but in face of what has happened, who can deny its truth? It should greatly assist British manufacturers ,in their future Irade competition with German business houses in the mar Wet of the world, as well as within the Emjjire itself,

MIT In this and the following pages' some effort is made to impress on the people of New Zealand the desirableness—and, we might say, the duty—of every citizen doing his or her share to encourage the use of. British-made goods in preference to all others. H]T One of the lessons of the present great war is that we should strive to make the British Empire, so far as is possible; independent of outside sources of supply. That is the ideal. We ! cannot hope to shut out the goods of all foreign nations, we have no desire to prejudice the position of our friends, but we can and should, wherever possible, give preference to the goods of our fellow-countrymen. This is not merely a matter of sentiment. It is a matter of self-interest; or self-protection. It.means the

building up and strengthening of the Empire which we belong and with which our fortunes are linked. |[H " British goods for British people " is the motto to be borne in mind by those who would assist in this work. Give the British manufacturer preference. s Patronise whereever possible the shopkeeper or the business house which sells British-made goods. In this issue are many columns of advertisements of British goods offered for sale by local business houses. They are worth reading, not only because the information they contain may prove of value to you in a business way, but because of the evidence they afford that if you so choose, practically all that you require in your home or business can be obtained from British sources of production.

ffl This movement to encourage British Tlfacfe | within the British Empire is not a New | Zealand movement only. It is an Empire movement, • In Great Britain manufacturers and commercial houses are actively bestirring themselves to meet changed conditions which may be expected to follow on the war. In Australia, as will be seen from the letterpress in this issue, politicians and business men are taking' the matter up. Canada —one of the most enterprising of the overseas Dominions—is alive to the opportunity. It rests largely with the people, the everyday consumer, to make the movement a success. Ask for British-made goods. Develop the habit of demanding the British-made article. Every reader of this issue can help in this way if he or she is willing to do so.

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