POST-WAR TRADE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 56, 29 November 1917, Page 7

POST-WAR TRADE

■ WHAT BRITAIN PLANS NOT VENGEANCE BUT SELFPRESERVATION

' Britain's attitude in trade matters after the war will not he dictated' by motives of vengeance or hatred," said the British Trade Commissioner (Mr. B. W. Dalton) when addressing tho Conference of New Zealand Chambers of Commerce yesterday. "But the Imperial Government has realised during .the war that there are certain methods of trading adopted by Germany in tho jast which it is not desirable that Germany should be allowed to adopt in ■the future- So long as Germany continues _' to _ hold her presont ideas of what is right and what is wrong, we must have the means of resisting her attacks, in the commercial field and .elsewhere. It is not a question of hatred and vengeance; it is rather a question.of self-preservation. If. Germany had an empire like the British Empire, she would not hesitate to establish an Imperial Customs Union that would secure to her all the benefits «f trade within her own Empire. The people of the British Empire are justified in adopting a'similar attitude. I think we ajja all agreed that Germany forced us into this war. We had nothing to do with starting the war. Germany was entirely responsible. The War up to tho present time has cost tis some thousands of millions of pounds, and it is only right, apart i'rom all question of hatred, that we should recoup ourselves, if the means are available, for the expense to which Germany has put us. If we can adopt a. system of trading that will assist tus to recover some of the money spent •on this war, then we are entitled to adopt that system. It is simply a matter cf business and common sense, and the question of vengeance does not enter into it. at all. We are entitled to adopt preferential and' reciprocal trading because it suits ourselves." Mr. Dalton- proceeded to reply to a suggestion that New Zealand importers had to look outside the Empire for certain articles because the British manufacturers could not Supply them.. "The manufacturers of the "United •Kingdom are working under ■ extraordinarily severe disabilities at the present time," he said. "They are prac-. ticaHy driven out of tho New Zealand market in certain classes of goods owing to the necessity >of concentrating their efforts on war work. But the •position will be different when the war Is over. There are very few things that New Zealand wants that cannot be bought in the United Kingdom. I find a great deal of misunderstanding on that' point. Some New Zealand traders have an idea that New Zealand is dependent upon the United States, Sweden, and Norway for electrical goods, for instance. That is not so. 1 know.that there is a opportunity for the development of trade in electrical goods in New Zealand,.and I am bringing- the fact' before firms at Home.' Anything that the Dominion wants in of electrical goods it will' be" able to get in the United 'Kingdom. ■

"1 find doubt .in New Zealand as to •what goods can be obtained from the. TJnited Kingdom at the present time. Some people seem to have an idea that because of the war it is not possible to get anything from Britain. The fact is that last year 60 per cent, of all the goods New Zealand imported came from Britain. There are industries in the United Kingdom, employing mainlylfemale labour, that are severely depressed'at the present time and that are very anxious to' extend their trade overseas. Far from <being unable to , deliver goods, they are eager to get orders, and I know that the Imperial Government is : anxious to-de- , ■velop '• export trade at every possible point." . • : Mr. Dalton added that a statement had been made in New Zealand,- on high authority, that the Imperial Government had increased freights in order to check exports from Britain during the war. There was no foundation for this statement. The Imperial authorities had ample means of checking or preventing exports of goods that ought to be kept in ' the country for war purposes. The rise in freights had been duo to other causes altogether, and he did not want any person in New Zea-?-\nd to believe that Britain was -unwilling to ' maintain the export trade throughout the war. - • •