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Hokitika Guardian, 22 June 1932, Page 4

The London “Times” recently re. ferred to the necessity of talcing every possible action to further the development of the Empire, following a report by the parliamentary secretary of the Board of Trade, who gave some figures which are a complete justification of the supreme importance for such a movement. These figures showed first that the several States were very large consumers of British goods, but they went farther, for they gave an indication of how vastly greater would he their'purchases if in point of population the dominions were comparable with other countries. The. two aspects of the matter must be considered together if the wisdom of a broad general policy of Empire development is to be fully appreciated. Taking the declared value of exports, including re-exports, of merchandise from the United Kingdom for the ten years ended on December 31 last, the figures showed that the United States bought goods to the aggregate value of £662,000,000; Germany, £573,000,000; Australia, £547,000,000; France, £499,000,000; Canada, £307,000,000; Union of South Africa, £302000,000; Argentina, £263,000,000'; and Kew Zealand, £198,000,000. Those are in themselves remarkable figures, particularly when it is recalled how large a part of the total purchases of the Empire are in the form of fully manufactured British goods, and how little is in the shape of re-exports of foreign goods or raw or only partly manufactured products. Their full significance, however, only emerges when they are read in conjunction with the returns for the population, because it at once becomes apparent how eminently desirable it is to find a mearns of increasing the inhabitants of tlic dominions. Thus it. is seen that, per head of the population, the purchases of Kow Zeal anil in the decade amounted to the remarkable sum of £1.!().. Australia followed with £9O; the Union of South Africa with £39; Canada with £32; Argentina, with £25; France with £l2; Germany with £9; and the United Stators with £5. Tt, should be stated that, lor the sake' ol clarity, the odd slii’lings have in all cases been omitted. Tt is n very (■simple task to calculate on this basis how vast would be the British export trade to the Empire oversea if the population of the larger dominions rivalled that of ihc United States.