AS OTHERS SEE US

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 294, 8 June 1912, Page 5

AS OTHERS SEE US

MR. BRYCE'S VIEWS. By Telegraph—Press Association. Rotorua, Last Night. 1 The Right Hon. James Bryce, British Ambassador to Washington, was the guest at a Chamber of Commerce dinner last night. Replying to a toast he said I that he had been struck with the rapid j growth of our exports, but had also been struck with the great need for closer settlement. Strenuous efforts should be made to settle the country. That would be good for everybody—good for the working men, good for the landlord, good for the export houses, and good for commerce. The reputation of our staple products in England was so established that the Old Country would take as much as we could send. Mr. Bryce referred to the possibilities of trade with Canada, which would take a great number of things we could export. The strength of the Empire was not to be measured in the figures of commerce, but in active trade, which implied closer intercourse between component nations. Canada had granted the most liberal facilities for settlement, and he predicted that within twenty-five or thirty years there would be comparatively very little land available. As regards the Panama Canal, Mr. Bryce saiid that the opening would effect only a very small saving in time between England and New Zealand, but it would greatly shorten the distance between the United States and Canada., New Zealand. This , would have\ a I viry important influence on the trade of this Dominion. He had-every reason to believe fthat the dues on the Panama-!.Canal'would be comparatively low,, in order sto- encourage commerce as' "tfjttclf} .ajs ; possible. Touching briefly on the question of immigration, he said that if the-.people of Great Britain were bu ! fc iWjire' of what an attractive country this was, immigration would go on increasing', lahd, it was for us to facilitate that immigration. We had immense advantages and splendid opportunities. We had 1 n6ne of the traditions and none of the habits that sometimes fettered the Old Couniry.