PROFIT AND PATRIOTISM.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 160, 1 September 1916, Page 5

PROFIT AND PATRIOTISM.

i THE COMMERCIAL INVASION. THREATENING BRITISH INDUSTRIES. (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, August 30. In these war times no Britisher who fully realises his obligation to the Empire and is determined to discharge it, will dream of putting profit in the scale against patriotism. The trader who is loyal to his race, no less than his customer who is loyal to himself, would scorn to turn the embarrassments and difficulties of his country to his own personal advantage. But in New Zealand at the present time there are numbers of sellers and, of course, numbers of buyers, who, probably through thoughtlessness rather than through any lack of national spirit, are falling somewhat short of their own patriotic ideals in this respect. Thej" are not the small tradesmen who arc making the war an excuse for exploiting the public in pennies and shillings on the prices of commodities. These' offenders, comparatively small in numbers after all, stand in a different category. It is more particularly certain large importers, enterprising indent agents and similar traders, who are apt to forget what is due from tliem in the crisis through which the nation is passing. Their supplies from the Mother Country having been stopped or seriously delayed through many British manufacturers being employed in the production of supplies and munitions for th e Army and Navy l —in helping, that is, to win the war—they are turning a ready ear to the representatives of neutral countries, who are scouring the country for orders, and in some cases making contracts which will endure for long after peace in all probability will be restored. The National View.

No one.can reasonably find fault with the American manufacturers for making the most of, the. commercial advantages they on joy through their country having kept out of the frightful struggle that is' taxing :to the utmost the whole strength of Britain and her Allies. That is all in . the way. of business. Nor can the local merchants be blamed if their customers, unable to obtain the goods they require from British manufacturers, insist 'upon having them from some other'source. But if the people of New Zealand recog-

nised the full significance of what is going on —how the British manufac-

turer engaged for the time in a great national work of vital importance to every part" of the Empire is being'supplanted by the foreigner —surely they would put up with a little inconvenience ratlier than assist in forwarding this insidious invason. "Much depends in this matter," said a leading merchant yesterday,. "upon the attitude of the general public. If buyers resent a little.. inconvenience and demaud to be supplied, in war time with the goods they 'used to buy,'.they add to the troubles of the British manufacturers, and play into the hands of their trade rivals." This is not the wail of national parochialism. In peace tim e the British manufacturers have been, perhaps, a little too indifferent to the efforts of their trade rivals. At any rate they have asked no favours. But in war time they are entitled as a matter of policy as well as a matter of patriotism, to every consideration their kith and kin throughout the Empire can give them. Empire Trade. Referring to this subject in the course of an interview with a representative of the "Dominion," Mr R. W. Dalton, the British Trade Commissioner, who is continuing with rare tact and conspicuous ability the excellent work begun by Mr Rolleston, and carried on by Mr Wickham, spoke with reassuring confidence of the rapid expansion of British trade and industry once the war is over. "The lines of trade in whicii foreign Countries have shown most activity during the war period," he said, "are essentially the lines in which th e manufacturers of the United Kingdom will show the most rapid recovery when the war is over. I make this statement with knowledge of what has happened since the outbreak of the waiv and of developments that are proceeding. The British manufacturer, as I said some time ago, will b e prepared to meet the demands of all his customers after'he has helped the armed forces of the Allies to win the war. H e is serving the Dominions as well as the United Kingdom at the present time, and his concentration upon war work handicaps him to some extent in handling ordinary trade. I feel sure the people of this country recognise that fact, and aTe prepared to see that the manufacturer of the United Kingdom is not prejudiced unfairly by anything that is occurring to-d3y." This is the confidence and the spirit fhat ought to be animating the people of New Zealand ;>fc tha present time. Both are justified by the facts. Peace will bring to the nations within the Empire ,in an esdegree wider opportunities, a broader outlook,, end still more sympathetic, unity, and, with, these will eome increased industrial and commercial activities, with all the advantages that follow in their train.

A Local Aspect. There is one aspect of this question of practical jjar.triotism which particularly concerns th e primary producers of New Zealand. The war, instead of involving the farmers in financial anxiety and loss, as it has so many other members of the community, has actually lightened their burdens and in- | creased their profits. AVith no niateI rial advance in their ordinary expenditure, they are receiving" largely enhanced prices for their products and as a result, speaking generally, are substantially improving their position every day the war Continues. But in spite of their abounding prosperity many of them are now demanding that an arrangement made between their representatives and the Government by which all their meat available for export was placed at the disposal of the Imperial authorities at a higher price than they ever had received before, should be revised with a view to securing for them a still higher price. It may be said that this, also, is "all in the way of. business, " but th e farmers of this much favoured country would scarcely care to be rated with the American and Japanese exporters, who are trying to oust the British manufacturers from their former markets. They would indignantly resent such a suggestion. But by trying to extract a higher price for their meat from the Mother Country, they are displaying the poorest kind of patriotism, and coming perilously near to a place in the category which includes the greedy shop-keeper who raises his price by pennies and shillings for articles which cost him no more now than they did before the war began. It would be only right and proper for them to take what steps they could to ensure the British publie obtaining every possible benefit from the importation of New . Zealand mat, but beyond this, they have no conceivable excuse for agitating for, the revision of the contract as it.stands.