BRITISH TRADE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 46, 18 November 1919, Page 7

BRITISH TRADE

« _ NEW ZEALAND & AUSTRALIA COMPARED AMERICA'S HOLDJJ AUSTRALIA Major R. E. Goddard, representing Uhc Association of British Motor «nd Allied Manufacturers, Ltd., in conjunction w itt the' Overseas Trade Dopartnielit of the Vuv- G . ovei '>inicut loft for Sydney bj the Kivenna oji Friday night. Before leaving* Wellington, ho Raid how nlonaod ho had been with hie visit to (New Zealand and with the courtesy and kindliness liu had met on all hands. ' He had no fear whatever but that British trado would quickly reassert its supremacy in Ilk Dominion as soon as English manufac ■turers were ablo to supply, and that lit believed would not now be very long, .trices had gono up for British goods even since ho had been in New Zealand, and though,'perhaps they would never again return to pre-war level owing to jme changed outlook ne to conditions of living, he believed that England by giving Britis.li quality," which had no equal in the world, and had proved it in the war, would win out to the top again, lie mentioned two financial cable messages whieli arrived hero TOcenMy within a.day or two of one another—one that thero ivaatons of money in London for investment and speculation, and the other that money was becoming very tiight in Amencn. What inference could be drawn from such messages? One was, he thought, a certain confidence, by English people in their own destiny; an assurance that production in England, through tho many industrial enterprises . being started, was going' to flourish ae the result of the loosened purse-strings of those' who had made monty during the war. With, the largo increase in the cost of plants and wages more capital wouldjie needed, by existing as well as new hrins, and it was ovidently forthcoming, which he took to be a good augury for the future. .• • ' Major Goddard had no hesitation in drawing a distinction between tho atti™d° % Australia and New Zealand towards British trade. Ho had ascertained hi Australia that American was beinff fostered assiduously by the practice of methods which would not perhaps meet with general approval, and in Melbourne he was afraid he had become unpopular by saying as much pretty openly. That trade had been industriously encouraged and pampered during the wnr period, aid the fact that England practically guaranteed the safety of tho seas. It Tm weii-kiiown that tho Americans could nod have sent -one transport across the Atlantic had it not bcoii for the British Navy It that were so, how muoh les9 chance would America's mercantile fleet have stood were it not for the'same protection granted? Australia, he was very much afraid, was "riddled with the American trade methods." Whilst in New Zealand there was that spirit of patriotism and loyalty to tho Mother country which would mean that 90 per cent, of the trade would revert to England when England was in a position to supply; only some 10 per cent, could be relied on in Australia. From Australia,. Major Cioddard will proceed to Japan and India. Later on *liP« P h* i to ret, '. m to Now Ztoll ">4 Wiiero ilio has made so many friends