The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1915. EMPIRE TRADE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 34, 11 February 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1915. EMPIRE TRADE.

It is more than ever a duty to help and foster the trade of our Empire, and the matter is one which Chambers of Commerce and such similar institutions must bear constantly in mind. It is regrettable that at this time there are available no statistics on which to base an estimate of the influence of the war on our import trade, and until the figures are published it is impossible to find out whether the great sense of obligation we are under to Britain has stirred the patriotism of the people to something tangible in the way of trade. The Lyttelton Times puts the matter well in saying that it remains to be discovered whether the importers have been as patriotic as we expect them to be and whether the manufacturers of the Dominion and of the MotherCountry have been taking full advantage of their opportunities. Of course it is easy to argue that the general public control the import trade of the Dominion and that if the public de-l manded British or New Zealand goods 1 the retailers would have to meet the demand, but in practice it has always been found extremely difficult to make the public realise that they do hold the controlling hand or to exercise it. In 1913 rather more than 3 per cent of our total imports came from Germany, but that 3 per cent represented trade worth £687,000. Trade with the enemy being prohibited, we have now a. compulsory diversion of this great volume of orders, and the question of interest and importance is whether our own manufacturers and those of the Mother Country and the British Dominions generally are receiving the orders that would, but for the war, have continued to go to Germany. It is, as we have said, a difficult task to move the public in such a matter as this, but the war has prepared the way, and it should need only persistent pressure and education now to divert the German trade permanently into British hands.