BRITISH TRADE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2702, 23 February 1916, Page 6

BRITISH TRADE

\ EFFECT OF THE WAR ! :JOME OF THE -LESSONS i HOW. WE HELPED THE GERMANS ; j - TRADE COMMISSIONER S ADDRESS . a' vigof- ;' and convincing advoc.it.o in the' new ffrsde Commissioner (Mr. B. W. Dal- ■; ton). Mr. Dalton was tlio guest of the . Now- Zealand Olub at luncheon yestertlay; .and .to the 'business men who are . members' of theclub lie delivered a most 1, -address about trade and tlie ■ war. The president of the club (Mr. -R. : ■H. Webb) was in the chair. The. First Lesson. "The war has taught us a number tpf lessons," said Mr. Dalton. "Not the j;: 1 least important of those lessons is that t-rado is essential to national welfare. It is more essential in war time than in I? peace time, but at all times it is the • only tiling on which national welfare : tan thrive. ■ The Germans can take to (themselves 1 credit for one. thing—that ■ tliev liavo done more to create trade i: (enthusiasm in England than anything • that has happened since the King made t his remarkable speech to the business ! . toien of' England, asking them to wake ■ • lip. At that time there was a period '. tof absolute stagnation in trade, produc- . ipd by lack of confidence, but this quick- ' ily passed 'away, and. the fact at the (present moment is this, that if you were to go to England now you would see ;V. '.what a remarkable change has 'taken ' place; you would find it difficult to believe that there had ever been a period ; -i>f - stagnation. Our unemployment re- ■ - .turns are down to one per cent. ; and (the lowest they have ever previously i lb eon in England even in times of the greatest prosperity is 3 per cent. And | (not only is there no unemployment, but ' nil the works are firing away as hard as they can. Amusement for the manufacturing classes and the working classes • is practically non-existent. Tl ere is one set purpose before our manufacturing and working people, and it is this: that whatever happens, general trade, or lio general trade, the war is ' going to be ' won, the requirements'-of tlie Admiralty • end- the War Office 1 ' are . going to lie filled, and if necessary then general / ' trade and its profits must, suffer. (Ap- .• platiso.) - ' . v An Unequal Battle.

"It is a popular-fashion to discredit ''the British manufacturer, and -unfortunately it is a more popular fashion to discredit the British manufacturer in the British Dominions than in any 'other countries in the world. Personally, : 1 strongly object to : thev discrediting of British,manufacturers. ' (Hear, hear.) We can never forget that Britain' has taught the world how to manufacture and how to trade. For scores of'years,, for; generations, we held an absolute monopoly of the manufacture and trade of the world. It was unreasonable to suppose that we should hold that monopoly for all time. It was unreasonable to suppose that Germany, an important country with ' enormous natural resources, should.-not come forward and be a keen competitor with ourselves. ]!ut I contend that under equal circumstances, there is no manufacturer in tho world more enterprising and more ready to givo what you-want than the British manufacturer. (Applause.) But the circumstances have not been equal. Whatever, we may think of Germany, we cannot but admit that she has great organising power and a very great scientific raind, and that ,she ; has been ablo to develop her. .industries very rapidly and very' successfully. Certain of her methods of obtaining trade are distinctly, open to question. Perhaps I ■amSmaking a. very bold statement when it'say it, but I believe that if tho war had not taken place Germany would still liavo ,como very shortly to a very serious crisis in her manufacturing industry.. . . . The .reason is that .'practically tho whole-of the business of Sormany ha.s been built up on an eniirely artificial basis.. In England,'our manufacturers have been allowed, some say- wrongly, to depend <on their owji efforts, what hapjwn:; in. Germany? iTlie banks are all industrial concerns. They are prepared..to send representatives of the. banks to sit on the boards of industrial companies. They will lend to manufacturing companies considerable sums of money to carry on their business. They will also do this sort of thing: A small manufacturer in Germany may' receive an order for £3000 ■ worth - of goods. Ho May not have the capital to supply such a large order. What doe 3he do? He goes'to the bank and .-asks the bank to lend liim £2500. and the hauls only requires that he shall produce - evidence that he has actually received the order! Tho result of this can only bo that at the tirno tlio.- ivar broke out tho banks in Germany,,*must have had out on loan against absolute lack of security millions of pounds worth of money which they can'never hope to recover. , Another artificial circumstance, aiding tho German manufacturer is the general subsidising system. Their shipping companies, their railway lilies, and some of their works, -not all. (have been subsidised directly' or indirectlyby the Government. .This subsidising husiuoss is popularly supposed to be very much greater than it is. The German Government; is not prepared to put down' a great deal of money bright "and left to help individual manufacturers, but it is prepared to subsidise' big steamship companies and transport lines to enablo German goods to get out of Germany." Germany aimed, lie said, at producing in vast quantities, in order that there should always ,be available a surplus production which could be sold in foreign countries at. manufacturing cost, or, if necessary, even a little below manufacturing cost. In England tho habit had been to produce n, higher quality article in smaller quantities, and to be satisfied with a slower return on capital •' How Vfe Helped the Germans. "Here 1 oome to a rather difficult part," Mr. Dalton went on. "Tho thing which has probably helped Germany most in tho development of her trade i* the action of certain British trade organisations. The whole of the trade of the world, was at ono time in British hands. Our great merchant corporations held an absolute grasp on the trade of tho world, and it was impossible for Germany to create her trade without takinsr advantage of these organisations. There ■ are many sides to the question, but I hold that any organisation is wrong which allows itself to develop in an extraordinary manner foreign competition- against home production. (Applause.) What did we

find? Wo found that you could ship goods from Hamburg tlirough London to New Zealand at lower rates than you could shirt British goods from London to Now Zealand. The argument is that so long as we hold the shipping industry of the world, so long are we masters of the sea, and so long will it bo impossible to get her - shipping lines, and we must use any means in our power to keep that mastery.. The fact is that Germany has been able through our organisations to build up a trade with our Dominions which warranted her in putting down shipping lines to carry her goods. As you know there was in fact an arrangement proposed before the war by wbioh a

direct shipping line was to be established to reach New Zealand from Haniburg, and . tlie possibility of the establishment of that line was due to the fact that the shipping companies in .England had shipped good's for Germany at a lower rate than they were prepared to offer British manufacturers.

... Another factor was the buying power of our merchant organisations. If you send an order home to London for a certain specific article of British manufacture, it does not necessarily follow that you will get ft British-made article delivered to you. The merchant organisations in London have been supplying orders not only from British, but from German, from American, and other manufacturing There are various arguments on their side. A mail in business must live. But now, 1 think, we have individually learned our lesson, and probably our merchants also have learned that there are other ways of looking, at business' than that of immediate profit." "Doing to Win Out." Mr. Dalton recapitulated n little of what ho had told his audience at the Town Hall- on Saturday about how the British manufacturer is helping to win ; the war by supplying the War Office, and, unfortunately, losing general tradb' connections and hard cash thereby. He concluded with tlie following appeal to the New Zealand business man: — "Keep on sending your orders Home, and take yovf delivery as , you can got it. And, most of all, hold' on to the agencies you have liad. I dbn't see now in patriotism you can turn your back on the manufacturers you have had with you for years. Believe me, it will be in your own interests to stand by tlie British manufacturers, because you can take it from me the manufacturer in England has never beou more enterprising than at the present moment. War orders have demanded the reorganisation of works and new machinery, and ho is coming into this trade war, after. this present war.is over, with all the force he can lay hold of. And he is going to win out. You can take it from me, he is going to win out." (Applause.)