TRADE PREFERENCE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 56, 29 November 1917, Page 6

TRADE PREFERENCE

A SELF-SUFFICING EMPIRE

COMMERCE AND IMPERIALISM

A FIELD FOR DEVELOPMENT

THE ISLANDS OF THE PACIFIC

SPEECH BY PRIME MINISTER

An address on commercial and Imperial subjects, topics which are not in these dnys quite unrelated, was delivered by the Prime Minister (the Right Hon. W. F. Massey) nt tho opening of the Conference of Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand yesterday.

Tho president of tho Associated Chambers (Mr. James Macintosh) welcomed, Mr. Massey to the conference. Ho recalled to Mr. Massey's memory tho fact that the first meeting of the association had been held on August 4, 1915. At that meeting tho conference had passed a resolution deploring tho fact that tho heads of the political parties in this country had not seen n't to form a Coalition Government during the period of the war, and tho very next <lay the National Government had been formed. He therefore claimed, jocularly, that the National Government in this country owed its existence to the Associated Chambers of Commerce. He invited Mr. Massey to speak of trade and trade conditions after the war, expressing tho opinion that it would be proper to prepare for such problems now, and not to wait until they actually presented themselves at the cessation of hostilities.

Mr. Massey was received by the assembled delegates with applause. Ho said that lie wished first of all to thank the conference for the welcome extended to him and to thank the president for his complimentary references to the National Government. The National Government might have its faults and failings, its shortcomings, its sins of omission and its sins of commission, but he thought they were entitled to say that in no portion of the Empire had public fjairs run 6o smoothly as in this little Dominion of ours sinco tho establishment of the National Government, and he believed that this wag largely due to the administration _ of the men at present in charge of rifairs. Production Maintained. He wished to congratulate the conference on tho life and vigour which was manifested by the representative character of the'gathering, and also to express his appreciation of the importance of the many proposals set forth in the agenda paper of the conference. Ho would like to congratulate the delegates as representative men on the continued prosperity of the Dominion —a prosperity which was duo in great part to the maintenance of production in spite of the fact that wo had sent from this country not much short of 100.000 of the best of the manhood of New Zealand. To keep up production under such circumstances was no easy matter. It was a matter for congratulation that the British Government had been able to supply us with so many ships in the past three years, enabling vs to get our products away to the other side of the world for the use of the armies of the Allies and of the civilian population of Britain. Ho had just obtained from.tho Government .Statistician the exports and imports for the first ten months of the current year. 'Hie exports, which were tho very life-blood of tho country, bad in this "period been of £26.282,578 in value, and the imports in the snme period had been worth £16,571,049. This brought the total trade of tho country for tho ten months up to £42,853,000. He thought that these figures represented a very creditable .performance under the circumstances for the people of New Zealand. He believed that the two months not included in the figures—November and December —would more than maintain the average, and in saying this he was speaking with some inside knowledge. In those two months we should export from the Dominion not less than five or possibly six millions worth of produce, and this wnuld bring our exports for tl)p year ]fl!7 up to the firnirc of thirty million pounds. He could not forget that owing to the war tho prices of our goods had increased considerably, and this must be taken into account,' but even after duo allowance had bec-n made for this increase in value nf our products it must bo admitted that the Dominion had done very well indeed.

Shipbuilding and Iron. He wonld refer to one or two of tho items on the order paper of the conference. He had noted with some 'satisfaction tho remit in which request was made for the revision of the Customs tariff in order to remove the disability at present put upon shipbuilders in this country by comparison with the conditions enjoyed by shipbuilders in Australia. The shipbuilding industry in this country was yet only in its infancy, but its time would come. We had in this country very important deposits of iron ore and iron sand, which would one day be worked energetically. ,He had been glad to notice that tho production of iron from iron sand had been going on satisfactorily. In ■ the course of time the production of iron and steel from our own ores in this country would have to be taken in hand, and he had no doubt that from onr own iron hnd steel wo should yet be able to build our own ships for the carriage of onr own produce to the markets of the world. The proposal as before the conference could not have the immediate attention of the Government, beoanse it was out of the question to think of attempting a general revision of the tariff in war time. But after tho war there would havo to bo n. revision of the tariff, not, ho honed, for thiN collection of morn Tevomie through the Customs from the people. Imperial Preference.

He noted with approval the proposal made that a different scale of port dues should be levied upon ships of the British Empire by comparison with those to be charged upon tho ships of a foreign Power. This proposal embodied a form of Imperial preference, for there wore other methods besides that of the imposition of Custom's duties by which Imperial preference could be exercised. In tho United States there was a shipping law to the effect that no foreign ship should carry passengers or cargo between ports of tho United States. • The Americans had a perfect right to mako a law of this icind, and in the same way tho British Empire could provido for a measure of Imperial preference. There was ai> other method now under consideration ami this was the payment of subsidies in order to enable ships of our Empir" to carry goods within the Empire nt lower rates of freight than would be possible for the ships of other countries. This system was under consideration, and ho thought it would probably come into operation in the British 'Empire after the war. When the war was over there would be a new set of conditions which it would be tlie duly of all good citizens of tho Empire to do their best lo meet, and it was his opinion Hint in future we would have to apply ourselves more en. ergetieally than ever before to the tnslt of making the most of the resources of the Empire. He could not help thinking that we had not done anything like our duty in the past in the development of the_ Empire. The nroduction of the tropical parts of ttic Empire had not been developed as it

should have been. We had not done enough to encourage the production within tho Empire of such products as sugar and cotton, Ivuge quantities of which were imported into England. In the parts of tho Empire within tho temporate zone it should be possible with a little development to increase greatly tho production of meat, cereals, and dairy produce. Tho Empire could produce all that it required for its own purposes for a great many centuries to come. A tremendous field was open for tho energy and enterprise of tho citizens of the Empire. After his recent visit to the Homeland he had formed the opinion strongly that the existing state of things could not bo allowed to continue any longer. Tine phase of the question of Imperial preference had claimed the attention or very many poonle lately, and there were many millions of peoplo who had never thought seriously of the question of preference who were now in favour of it as a policy. There was another important phase of the Imperial preference problem. For tlie last 75 years there had been a steady stream of emigration from tho British Isles, and unfortunately a great many of the people who had migrated in search of fortune had not gone to countries under the British flag, although there were quite as good openings under our flag as there were elsewhere. New Zealand was one of the partially-developed countries of the Empiroj and it f' '-tiltl be the duty of the Government of this country to see that a proper chare of the migration was directed towards this country. About Samoa. Mr. Massey referred also to the proposal emanating from the Dannevirko Chamber of Commerce as follows:—"That the New Zealand Government be asked to stipulate when peace negotiations aro in progress that as o basis of future security in the Pacifio German Samoa he retained as a. British possession, and in view of tho future development the Government be further requested to appoint a Trade Commissioner to cultivate commercial relationship _ between the island and the Dominion." Mr. Massey said that he would lileo to tell the conference that a good deal had been done by way of impressing upon the gentlemen at the head of affairs in Britain the opinion of the people in Australia and New Zealand about the future disposal of these islands in tho Pacific. In England Sir Joseph Ward and he had lost no opportunity of impressing upon the British Government that any proposal on the part of that Government to give back to Germany the islands in which they were concerned—Samoa, German New Guinea, and other islands now in occupation—would bo very bitterly resented bv the British people in the' South Pacific. He believed that they bad been successful in impressing British statesmen with their point of view. It was quite likely that thpv would have another oprMunity of addressing British statesmen on tins subject before the conclusion of peace. His own opinion was that the actual vnluo of the islands was and should be a secondary consideration. What would it mean'if German Samoa were given back to Germany? It would mean that Samoa would become agnin the hen<Tnuarters of the German Fleet in the Pacific, as it was before the war; it would mean the establishment there of a areat wireless station which would be able to sneak to countries all over the Pacific; it would possibly mean the establishment there of a fleet of submarines. He would like to remind them that even before the war the Germans in the Pacific hod not been the best of neighbours, and we didnot want them thorn again. The British Government had been told already that wo did not wish to hare them there if we could help it. fcind that any attempt to put them boH; in possession of their territories in the Pacific would be very strongly resented by the people of New Zealand. More Should bo Done. But it seemed to him that we should go further than this in our relationship with tliosp islnnds now in military occiination, and with the British islands in the Pacific. In his voyage across from America on his return from England he had met a. number of the residents of Fiji. He bad gathered on that occasion that the feeling of the people of Fiji towards this country was most friendly. Indeed, they had given him the impression that thev were more friendly towards New Zealand than to any other countrv m the Empire He thought we should do our best to cultivate trade relations with Fin. He asked why it was thnt we had not been 'doing a. trade with Fiji as we used to do some years ago, and the people had informed him that the steamer service with Australia was so much bettor that it was possible to trade with Australia under more sntisfactorv conditions thnn with New Zealand ' They had told him also that for some reason the merchants of P<ew Zealand could not land goods as cheaplv in Fiji «s the Sydney merchants, in spite of tho fact that the distance from Svdney was greater. ' 'Ho'wished to say that in his opinion we should have not onlv commercial relationships, but political relationships, with a number of islands of the Pacific. We should certmnlv do more than the sending of a Trade Commissioner to Samoa. We should be represented in Fiji and Tonga, and possiblv we should .have a commissioner to look after our interests m these groups. New Zealand was the natnr.il centre of a grent island group which, he believed, would one day come together, and such a union would be for the good of all of them. Tho British Market. Mr. Massey went on to speak of the possibility of' improving our trade conditions with tho Mother Country. In Englaud he. had gathered that the cities and ports of Liverpool. Manchester, and Bristol wore willing, ev.en anxious, to take more of our produce. He was sure that, if tho business were developed we could do very much more trade with these cities than was ever attempted at present. London had been for many years a splendid market for our produce, and he did not wish to say anything against London, but he. did not think we should be any worse friends with London for encouraging a little more competition for our trade. Certain charges were levied against our produce in London which were not imposed in these other ports, and relief from these charges would be for the benefit of New Zealand. He realised that it was not possible to mako any changes of this kind until after tho war. It might be good business for New Zealand to hnve commercial representatives in tho three ports he had named. Shipping Outlooli Good.

In the coming export season we should he able, if the ships were provided to send out of the country thirty millions worth of produce. "And I am very glad," he continued, "to make the. 'announcement to representatives of the commercial community such as you are that the outlook for shipping'at present ,is very good indeed. (Applause.) lam something of an optimist, but when I say this I want also to give you one word or caution. It is this: while tho outlook is good, there is always the possibility of soiiio of our ships being required for some war purpose, for instance, for the conveyance of troops and equipment and supplies from the United States to Europe. If nothing of this kind happens, we are going to get our produce away much more satisfactorily than I thought possible a few months ago. (Applause.) If things go wrong I shall bo. sorry indeed." Mr. Masscy concluded wrth good wishes for tlie success of tne conference, and at tho call of the president a hearty voto of thanks was accorded to Mr. MassD-y for his address.