MARKETS WAITING

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 358, 20 October 1932, Page 3

MARKETS WAITING

IN JAPAN AND "CHINA - N.Z. BU SINESSM AN SAYS EAST OFFKRS GREAT OPPORTUNITIES. OPENING FOR MUTTON. "I come back with the impression that is almost a conviction that there is a great market awaiting New Zealand products in Japan and the Far East generally," said Mr. J. R. McKenzie, who returned to Wellington recently after spending the winter touring through Japan and China. "I was in Japan thirteen years ago, so that I was on the iook-out for changes, and I must say they were simp'ly marvellous. Thirteen years ago it was but rarely that the visitor saw a native in European clothes, now quite a large percentage of the women have taken to European attire. For example, all the college boys and girls wear European clothes exclusively which shows the trend in educated circles. "What does that mean to us?" said Mr. McKenzie. "Well, the steamer in which I travelled to Japan took no fewer than ten thousand bales of wool from Australian ports for Japan, and during last season that country bought no fewer than 640,000 bales from Australia, which makes her the biggest individual customer outside England. If they are all going in for good woollen clothing they must have' the wool to meet the fast?changing fashions. "But there are other things in addition to wool," said Mr. McKenzie.

lhe Japanese are rapidly losing their reputation as a rice-eating people. They imported immense quantities of wheat last year from Australia, and are finding ready use for flour in their cooking. Wonderful Opening. "I think there is a wonderful opening for our products in Japan, apart from wool and wheat. The Japanese and the European residents cannot get the mutton they want. Mutton up there is a luxury. I will illustrate

what I mean hy telling you of a club in Tokio, which has arranged for a monthly supply of mutton. That is to say, the members are able to have mutton once a month by subscribing to the fund, and they all look forward to its arrival as a very special treat. They get beef of a kind, ,and the Japanese raise plenty of poultry. There is some beef from Australia, but I think most of it eomes from America, as do the tinned meats, fruit and condensed milk. They could do with plenty of our butter. Indeed, I am inclined to believe that properly organised there is a good market for our mutton and dairy produce, besides other lines. "What New Zealand should have is a proper resident representative in the East," continued Mr. McKenzie; "preferably one who.- knows the country and the people. The initial difficulty would be to provide cold storage in two or three of the ports .so that we could keep supplies on hand, and draw' on them as they are require^. This, of course, is a big undertaking, but I firmly believe it would pay if the organisation were placed in the right hands."