The Daily News. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1912. TRADE WITH AMERICA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 171, 6 December 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1912. TRADE WITH AMERICA.

The impressions which Sir Geo. Rcid gathered during his recent visit to America are of vital interest to Australia and Nuw Zealand. Sir George, during his long public career, has not won a reputation for being unduly optimistic, and more than a little weight can be confidently attached to his utterances. Yft gather foom the brief cabled interview with him published yesterday that America is rapidly reaching a stage at which the growth of her population is outstripping her productiveness, and that in a very short time she will have to turn elsewhere for food for her teeming millions. The cost of living in the giant continent, lie says, has become a grave anxiety, and out of this anxiety comes Australia's chance for exploiting her primary industries. With Australia's chance will, of course, come New Zealand's also, for we do not purpose being [ left behind in this race for the world's markets. The matter, in the first instance, is one of tariffs, and it will not be possible to attempt to secure any appreciable proportion of the American trade so long as the United States has u high protective tariff, but a down revision of the tariff would enable us to supply the market with a helpful quantity of produce from even a small country like our own. Under a reciprocal tariff scheme we could supply the States with frozen meat, butter and cheese, flour, and wool and woolens from our surplus stores, taking in return machinery, the thousand and one "Yankee notions" that are familiar to every household, oil in the meantime, cotton and tobacco, and, above all, men. The American farmers are emigrating annually in larger numbers to Canada, and if a portion of this stream of emigration could be diverted to Australia and New Zealand we should be able to supply the States with produce grown by their own people. There is a distinct tendency in American politics to lower the tariff upon various classes of goods, as was shown

last year when the Senate carried measures materially reducing the tariff on wool and establishing a "Farmers' Free List." Unfortunately these measures were vetoed by the President as the result of the political chicanery of the Democratic party, but their end is not yet, and the growing congestion will probably cause their reappearance to be the signal of a more sober estimate of their necessity. There is no question that a payable development of the

American market would spell an era of unprecedented prosperity for both Australia and New Zealand, and it behoves us to "get busy" in as practicable a manner as possible without any unnecessary delay. The subject is one that should demand the immediate attention of every Chamber of Commerce in Australasia, so that we may have the most expert and most practical advice as to how to proceed in capturing the market. Sir George Reid has thrown out an excellent suggestion when he proposes the establishment of Australian agencies in New York, Chicago and San Francisco, and whilst we are hardly yet in a position to undertake quite such a comprehensive scheme in New Zealand alone, the Government' might well consider the advisability of sending a commissioner to America to spy out the land, and possibly to take up a permanent residence in one of the large cities, with a roving commission as an appurtenance. If the conditions are as stated by Sir George Reid, the Dominion would be wise to make some practical effort to get in "on the ground floor." Taranaki, on account of its immense dairying production, has an immediate interest in this matter, and tsb hope to see the Chambers of Commerce in the province joining eagerly with others in examining into the possibilities of this market.