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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 74, 23 April 1909, Page 2

THE PROBLEM OF EMPIRE TRADE. We !ici|iiii'C(l our Empire, said a great historian, in a fit of absence of mind, We seem in (lunger of losing its most valuable nialetiu! fruits in a similar fashion (says the "Stawdard of Empire"). Tile British family of nations embraces -100,000,000 of people, ami ft 'occupies territories extending from one polar region t« tin; other. Practically everything that every human being can want, from diamonds to canary seed, from battleships to waistcoat buttons, |from pineapples to \ealskiiis, is produced or manufactured somewhere within that vast area. The British Empire might lie absolutely <-clf-s.npnorling. Vet the L'niled Kingdoms buys L C180,000,000 of food, drink, and tobacco from foreign countries, almost- the whole of which might be produced sOjMWhere within the. King's dominions; and the oversea fttjites purchase £100,000,000 of foreign goods, nearly all of which linight have been .supplied from the British. Isles, And wv do nothing to prevent this process we do. indeed, a great deal to facilitate it. Thanhs to our utterly indefensible system of railway, rates and transport rings, we positively oiler a bounty to" the alien trader. A German manufacturer can seiid goods from Hamburg to Birmingham, via London, at a much lower rate than a London manufacturer can send goods direct to Birmingham, tiood, from New York can be delivered ' in Birmingham for less than goods from I Liverpool. A British shipowner will carry goods in a British ship from a Orman port to West Africa or Australia for SO per cent. Jess than he will the same i|uantlt,v of goods from a British port. This is a Beumlaloiis anomaly for which there is no <-xci|se whatever an absurd result of <><<f pedantic refusal to employ the resources of the State to regulate economic affairs. We ought, in reality, not onlv to prohibit this oppressive private action; Iml. us Mr. Morgan suggests, to make it our national business to establish and maintain vJiciip and rapid transport between all parts, <if the Umpire. Put in lall sorts of way- ic t allow our competitors to have advantage* over us in nut own territories. The <tonn,n or American manufacturer can book a pa*'-1 »'l of goods through from an Inland town to South Africa or New Zealand on a single bill «f Jading, The English inland manufacturer ejin'nol. The shipowner will onlv take hi, consignment ' at the seaport. >o that he ha« luionployj a shipper or forwarding ugcni. He w ii I only (piote f.o.b. Ilritisli ports, while his i foreign rival can ,piote e.i.f. colonial ports. Then, again, there is the question of information. There are l.iilO unid representatives ~f foreign countries h the oversea States ««4 Fndia: there are only ten of <jreat Britain. Then there jure our Crown colonies, with their ¥ »«t aiiideveloped resources We are ,ioi: ]4 - tioliiiiig to make I hem kmnvn: our manufacturers are ignorant of them, while foreigners are increasing their trade year by year in these territories, where we bear the sole burden of administration, police, and dofence. Wc

must have preferential trad* relations | between the component parts of the Empire, ami we must have a commercial intelligence department to collect, tabulate, and diiruse information as to opportunities that exist tor trade, for the establishment of industries, and for the employment of capital. And, it the position is not to be hopelessly unpaired, we cannot wait for it much longer.