RECIPROCAL TRADE

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 996, 12 June 1930, Page 13

RECIPROCAL TRADE

JAPAN OFFERS MARKET REGULAR SERVICES NEEDED Tlie necessity for the institution of regular shipping services from New Zealand to Japan, with a view to improving trade between the two countries, was stressed by Mr. A. B. Roberton, Consul for Japan, in a lecture given last evening under the auspices of the Auckland University College Commerce Students’ Society” The speaker prefaced his'address on "Our Future Trade With Japan,” with a sketch of the history of Japan and of its physical features and the customs of the Japanese. The working people of Japan were very poor, said Mr. Roberton. The greater part of Japan’s trade was in the hands of large and influential companies. Japan’s population was increasing at a rate of 3,000,000 a year and her crops of rice, the principaldiet of the people, were inadequate. There was also a shortage of other foodstuffs. The difficulty in the way of reciprocal trade was the need of Japanese steamers calling regularly at the Dominion, as at present New Zealand exports to Japan had to be carried by way of Honolulu or Sydney. New Zealand could supply Japan with wheat, flour, condensed milk, butter, wool, leather and hides, if successful trade relations were established through better shipping facilities, and in future years Japan would also be able to take considerable quantities of meat from Australia and New Zealand. Apart from silk, Japan produced few materials or products wanted by the outside world. Her exports to New Zealand consisted chiefly of tobacco,

raw materials and manufactured articles. Although Japan had a large industry In porcelain and chinaware, the designs were of English patterns. Japan was still opposed to foreign enterprise and with her poor population a lucrative trade for New Zealand could not be established in a short time-