ISLAND TRADE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 592, 19 February 1929, Page 16

ISLAND TRADE

“WHY A TARIFF WALL?”j DETROIT MILLIONAIRE’S VIEW j That the trade of the Islands is ] suffering because of British intercolonial tariffs is the opinion of 1 Colonel Edwin S. Grtsnge, a multi- | millionaire and a prominent Detroit citizen, who is visiting New Zealand for the first time. JJE arrived in Auckland yesterday on the Tofua, and accompanied by | j Dr. H. M. McClanahan, of Omaha, will visit Rotorua and other resorts. ! “Tho Islands interested me pro- j foundly,” he told a Sun man. “I j was delighted with the people—the j Polynesians—and the places them- j selves. On© cannot help comparing ! them with Hawaii and Porto Rico. “Why not the greater development of those places? What we catinot understand is the tariff walls between your colonies. Exports from American islands come in free, but 1 was told the other day by a planter that greater development of banana plantations was not possible while Australia kept them out.” A noted traveller and modest man of wealth is Colonel George, who is loth to discuss himself or his means. He is a millionaire many times over, and qualifies for the title, “Estate King.” “I came to Detroit when its population was 200,000 and made money in estate,” he said. During the Great War he occupied a responsible position as the military head of transport at Washington. He : was also the organiser and leader of > the George Expedition, which crossed • Africa from Cairo to the Cape. On • that occasion he took part in the 800L mile tramp included in the journey. He is an enthusiastic big-game hun--5 ter, the lure of which drew him to l South Africa.