DIRECT TRADE WITH BELGIUM

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 121, 12 August 1927, Page 16

DIRECT TRADE WITH BELGIUM

BONELESS BEEF MR. VAN OSSELAER’S ADVICE A TREMENDOUS amount of x New Zealand goods are imported into Belgium, but they are obtained through London. Mr. A. J. Van Osselaer, a wellknown Auckland merchant, who returned from a lengthy trip by the Ruahine yesterday, was of opinion that Belgium should import direct from New Zealand. He has been working hard to remove the embargo on boneless beef and hopes that before long large quantities will be imported into Belgium from the Dominion. New Zealand commodities which are imported in large quantities into Belgium through London are hemp and rabbit skins. Having obtained the hemp from the Dominion, Belgium manufactures it into binder twine and sells 2,000,0001 b each year to France. Thousands of bales of rabbitskins find their way to Belgium. Mr. Van Osselaer is a Belgian and has been re-visiting his native country as well as the United States of America, England and France. He says that Belgium has successfully stabilised the franc, but the cost of living has yet to level up. At present there is a tax on shoes, clothes, cigars and even tea and cakes in a restaurant. Mr. Van Osselaer thinks that Belgium could buy direct from New Zealand, instead of through the London markets. And yet. he says, prices quoted in New Zealand are dearer than those of the London markets. He does not think that Great Britain should have all the preference. The Belgians are working very hard, says Mr. Van Osselaer, but there are still the grim traces of war in many parts. Ypres has been rebuilt for the most part, but the huge cemeteries, beautifully kept, tell their own tale.