BRITISH NEW ZEALAND TRADE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2815, 26 February 1908, Page 17

BRITISH NEW ZEALAND TRADE.

BOARD OF TRADE REPORT. IMPORTANT STATEMENT JUST PUBLISHED. (From Our Own Correspondent ) LONDON, January 10. A most important and valuable report on the position and prospects of British trade with New Zealand, compiled by the Advisory Committee of the Board of Trade, was issued yesterday in the form of an official Blue Book. It is full of very interesting and instructive information and statistic 2 , which may be studied with ad\antage in New Zealand ac well as at Rome. After an introductory descriptive statement of the general characteristics of New Zealand, both ac a country and as a market, the report proceeds: — "The Dominion of New Zealand is at present enjoying- a period of rapid economic development and of great and general prosperity. The population has steadily advanced in numbers, at a somewhat increasing; rate of progress ; between 1895 and 1800 the increase was a little le^s than 10 per cent . and in the «nsuing quinquennial period it was nearly 15 per rent., while the estimated actual growth in 1906 (26.264) tras the largest vet recorded for any single year in the history of the colony since 1879. Agriculture in one form or another is, and must long remain, the predominant interest of New Zealand, but at the same time industries have boon and strenuous and persistent efforts are being made to develop them, both by the tariff policy of the Dominion and by other forms of Gknernment aid and encouragement. The statistics of foreign trade show the same I upward, movement and indicate substantial I progress in the general well-being of the Dominion, as the growth of trade has been ( far more rapid in recent years than the , increase of population ,• in particular there was a. notable development in imports and export 6 in 1906. British goods receive a certain degree of preferential treatment. | The products of the Mother Country, how- '■ ever, as well as those of foreign nations, have to face competition from New Zealand manufacturers.

" Before examining the import trade in detail, there is one other matter of some importance at present, and possibly of much greater importance in the future, to be taken into account. The manufacturers of the Unite-1 Kingdom have to consider not only the nature and extent of the competition which they encounter with foreign countries, and its probable developments, but also the competition which arises from 1 he- Dominion itself; and there are a number of cases in which the imports into New Zealand of manufactured goods represent only a small part of the total consumption of such goods within the Dominion. The policy of encouraging industrial enterprise has been vigorously pursued by the New Zealand Government, both in its tariS legislation and in other ways since the Alkinson Tariff Act of 1888. ... In

such food commodities as boor, aerated waters, and biscuits, practically the whole of the demand is supplied from ■within the Dominion, and the t^ mo is true in only a slightly less degree of jam and confectionery. Other domestic requirements mainly supplied by home industry are furniture (86.4 per cent), blankets (80.2 per cent.), soap (69.3 per cent.), clothes (65.7 per cent.), and hoots and shoes (64.4 per cent.). United Kingdom and foreign manufacturers supplied in 1906 lees than two-fifths of the agricultural machinery, while the New Zpaland manufacturers have the greater part of the trade also in saddlery and harness, cordage, xope and twine, firebricks and" cement, and nearly half of the supply of candles. These are practically all industries which would naturally be the firet to develop in an agricultural country such as Ne\v Zealand. In regard to all these commodities, it appears to be clear (hat a continually growing share of the trade will be i 'ien by the New Zealand manufacturers, and tnat consequently British manufacturers cannot look for any particular expansion of the exports of these kinds from the United Kingdom to the Dominion.

"It would, nevertheless, be a serious mistake to underestimate either the extent of foreign competition or jts possibilities of expansion, and, although British manufacturers may justly contemplate the present position with some satisfaction, yet they caunot afford to relax heir vigilance or be lulled into any feehna of security by a preferential tariff. The Germans "in particular are making in New Zealand, as elsewhere, strenuous efforts 1o extend their trade, and, handicapped though they are by the preferential treatment of British goods, and by the absence of direct steamship communication — tho latter, however, an obstacle which may be removed at any time, — they have vet mack substantial progress, though their share of the trade is still comparatively veiy small. The United States competition (in g-cods which the United Kingdom can supply) is menacing at time*, but it fluctuates a. good deal ; and in the oaee of some commodities British manufacturers appear to have learned a lesson and to be recovering part of the lost ground, and American competition seems to have made no progress in recent years." The conclusions are thus summarised : — " The Dominion of New Zealand presents a market which, though small in comparison with those of Canada, Australia, or South Africa. is yet considera-ble, is steadily expanding, and presents great possibilities for the future. In that market British merchants and manufacturers have by far the greatest share, and although that share did decline elowlv for 6ome years, the downward movement appears to have been checked since 1902. This improvement is undoubtedly- due in part to the greater energy displayed 1 by British manufacturers and traders, who have succeeded in some instances in recovering ground which they had lost ; and to some extent also to the* effect of the preferential arrangements made jn 1903. It may hp noteS that, while the new tariff of New Zealand does not. except in a. few cases, lower tho V«arriers aga.inet importa from the United Kingdom and British nosspsfions. it increases the advantage which Britibh traders enjoy o\er their foreign rivals.

" Nevertheless there h considerable and active foreign competition from the United States. Germany. France, and Belgium, and evidence of active efforts on the part of those countries to promote their trade with the Dominion. There are a few classes of goods which the United Kingdom might supnlv in which the trade is held almost entirely by foreign countries; but, with the exception of certain goods for which the countries named have acquired a special, reputation, suoh as agricultural and some other machinery, tools, and a. few other metal manufactures from the United States, dress sroods and some articles of apparel from France and Germany, and glass from Boleium. the goods obtained from foreign countries nve in rhe main either cheap lines with which British manufacturers — risrhtlv or wrong-lv — have not cared to trouble themselves, or miscellaneous articles and fancy- goods of many kincta which have never been important in British trade. Tt appears, then, that, with the exercise of reasonable vigilance and altent'on to the desires — and perhaps the prejudices — of the consumers. tVi-ero is no reason why British traders should not maintain and even improve their position in the New Zealand market."

The report is bused on materials collected Tit Mr R. J. JeflFrav when he visited New Zealand in 1906 fls commissioner on behalf of the Advisory Committee on Commercial Intelligence, and in the course of his in■■•esti (ration visited Wellington, Auckland, Christohurch. Dunedin. Nelson, Westport, and Greymouth. He acknowledges the valuable assistance he received in his inquiries from the Government of the Dominion, the Chambers of Commerce, and many private individuals. The Blue Book extends to 70 closely-printed pages.