TRADE AND WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3080, 10 May 1917, Page 6

TRADE AND WAR

PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE ■' PREFERENTIAL EMPIRE TRADING \"■;<_.. Some of the problems of after-war / trade-were mentioned at the annual meeting of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce yesterday afternoon. The /guests of the Chamhor included the Hon. W. H. Hemes, Minister of Bailways, the Hon. A. L. Herdman, At-torney-General, and Mr. E, AV. Dalton, British Trade "Commissioner. "."■' The President of the Chamber (Mr. J. Macintosh) said that the vitally im- ' portent questions connected with trade conditions after the: war deserved the earnest attention of every business man in the Empire. The statesmen , who. had attended the AVar Conference in London had been unanimous in their decisions, and they would return to their own countries prepared to introduce legislation in the various Parliaments to give effect to tho deoisions. Their wishes might be summarised as follows:— ' ' '. v (1) Preferential reciprocal trad-"•-ing relations.between all parts of :'■■■': the British Empire. . (2) Reciprocal trading between ; all parts of- the British Empire and the AHied countries. (3) Favourable treatment of neutral countries. (4) No trade with enemy, coun- ■ tries. ' The suggestions that had been made for giving effect to tnese ideas might, ibe comprehended under two--Jieadings: (a) prohibitive duties to keep out certain goodte; (b) large increased port end shipping dues to discourage •certain shipping. Some people had advocated a poll tax on German enemies, -_and had even gone to the length of proposing that Germans should be pxohided from British territories alto! ge-ther after the war. it was quite I certain, in any case, that' naturalisation for the Germans would' not be as easy in the future , as it had been in ihe past. A rule that no German should, have naturalisation in the British Empire for a lengthy period, poeeibly for fifty years, would,be justifiable aad pruifent.

Exoluding the Germans. ■■-~ Mr. Macintosh added that he had 3io dtmbfc tariff and shipping arrangements of the. nature indicated would ■be made in the near future, in prepara- , jtion for the resumption .of trade after the war. The effect would he to ere- . ate a British trading family, consisting of the Motherland, the Dominions, the colonies, and the dependencies, with, the Empire's Allies as favoured friends, the neutral countries as friends, and the enemy countries as outsiders. Just how far this process should be carried was a question for consideration. "The enemy Powers •will find the whole of the Eastern and almost all of the Western world closed : against them," said the, President. "With their colonies gone and all these markets closed to them, what will follow? There is the'problem of- their surplus population in the near future. Water may he confined for a time, but if its bulk is being steadily added to •what then? These are questions for statesmen to ponder over, and it ie not for me to venture an opinion as to the wisdom of this hottling-up polioy. ■That the Germans deserve this treatment there can be no question, but is there not a doubt as to the wisdom, •to 6ay nothing more, of inflicting the full measure of punishment? Conquer, them and crush their militarism by all means, so that it may neve'r raise its head again; in doing*bo we /will be doing the German people* the greatest service, for we will be breaking the yoke from their necks and making "tbem a free people. But having done this should we not temper justice with mercy? It Is a time to think of these things, so that wnen the time of settlement comes the British people all over the world may give further proof of their belief in and their adherence to the Divine Injunction to 'do justly and love mercy.'" •

The British Manufacturer. His Majesty's Trade Commissioner (Mr. E. W. Dalton) spoke of the prospects of British'trade after the war. "I have no doubt in my mind what is going to happen commercially when thie war is over," he said. "If I had any doubt it would be dissipated by the ■present position of British trade in relation to New Zealand. Last year .Britain's exportsito New Zealand in the goods she could offer amounted to 59.4 per cent, of the Dominion's imports. If the United Kingdom in war time, when keeping armies of millions of men in the field and producing munitions on a stupendous scnlo, can hold jast upon 60 per cent, of the New Zealand trade, ' then there is no limit 6hort of 100 per cent, to what the British exporters may win after the war.

. . . Wherever I go in New Zealand I could recite, the first ten minutes' conversation with almost. every man I meet. He tells me that the British manufacturer is not enterprising, that he does not meet the requirements of the markets, and so forth. When the British manufacturer has a demand to meet, and sees a. profit in it, he does not laok enterprise. Let me <juote an example. There has been complaint that the British manufacturer does not produce a farm tractor suited to colonial conditions. A. demand arose for farm traclors in order that the idle lands of England, .Scotland, and Wales might he cultivated quicklv, and made to produce foodstuffs. The manufacturers trithin a period of two or thren months turned out the tractors thnf were needed, of a typo that is exactly suited to colonial-conditiona. Those tractors are being used day and night in Great Britain nfc the present time, and thev are cultivating , hnndredjf-oF thousands of acres of land, often in the hands of volunteer workerp. There is no limit to the spirit and enterprise of thn British manufacturer and the British people when the need comes.

Britain's Creat effort. "The war has 'mode its call on the Brftisli spirit, and I have no hesitation .'it all in saying that when peace has b'oen restored the British manufacturer will come back into the markets of the world with far greater force than he has ever displayed before, crcn in those pre-w«r days when his goods penetrated into every corner of the. globe. You aro feelinp his enterprise in Now Zealand now. I am feeling it. Every mail brings me fresh evidence of tho determination of the British manufacturers to retain and develop their trade in New Zealand. There have been certain weaknesses in the past. Motor-cars, agricultural implements, nnd some classes of fancy goods are illustrations. But it is precisely in those goods that the greatest development has taken place in the Tlnitecl Kingdom during the war period. Tho motor industry of Britain is a Jiew industry. It is meeting the almost; unlimited requirements of the armies at. the present time. It has been reconstructed , to meet the gigantic demands created by the war, nnd when the wnr is over the new organisation will be directed into trade channels. Tho agricultural machinery industry is new. 'The fancv goods influstry is new. Samples of the goods that are being produced hare not yet come to New Zealand, and they may not come until the war is over. But the goods are there, and I can assure you that you will be able to get them

when tlio war is ended. Business men who are looking to foreign countries at the present; time for the goods that the eheiny countries used to supply will be able to buy tho articles they need in the United Kingdom when tho present struggle is over and tho British manufacturers are iree to turn their energies once more into ordinary trade channels." (Applause.)