JOHN BULL ALIVE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 110, 2 October 1914, Page 4

JOHN BULL ALIVE.

One effect of the present world war will, providing Britain retains tho command o F the sea, be the transference, to 'iier of practically th# wliolo of tho German overseas trade with the colonies, India and British dependencies. The Germans have been pushing their business with marked success throughout these fruitful and developing countries, and have shown a readiness to adapt their wares to the requirements of their customers, and deliver their goods promptly. Behind all their efforts has been tho same system aful organisation that mark the operations of tlieir war forces, iuhl as a result they liaye made j serious inroads into the business of their rivals, especially John Bull. The latter gentleman has never been very adaptable or obliging. He makes his article as he lias made it for years, and believes it cunnc.it he improved upon in usefulness or quality, ll it has not suited liis colonial or other customer, well, it has been a case of "take, it or leave it." And the customer has left it, going where he could get wlnit !:« wanted and was prepared to pay for. Now John Bull, seeing his Continental trade paralysed for the time being, is turning his attention to these long-neglected overseas markets, and is examining closely and thoroughly the methods of his Teutonic competitor. He is girding his loins tor another waT, a Woodless one. The Colonial Secretary and the Foreign Secretary are co-operating, the Board of Trade is

providing a General Staff, Consular ' agents and Ministers abroad are acting as intelligence officers, and already the campaign is developing on world-wide lines. Enlistment in this great trade army was just as brisk when the last English mail left as it was in Kitchener's armies. We read in one of the London papers: "There was a press of enquirers from the moment the doors were open, and an augmented staff, entering with quito unofficial zest into the Woodless war, wore busy all day handing out pamphlets and digging out information from dry Consular reports." Something approaching amazement was occasioned among a certain class of manufacturers at the disclosure (as it seems to them) of the enormous exports of Austrian and German goods to the British colonies. They now realise, as they have never done before, the immenso lucrative field of effort open to them. Striking statistics illustrative of this point have already been published, but an even bettei measure of the value of tho trade which the British merchants are setting out to capture is now published. Taking the last year for which completed figures are available, tho value of the annual exports of Germany and the United Kingdom in the following selected lines of commerce, was: —

United Germany. Kingdom. £ £ Cutlery 1,747,800 830,000 Iron and steel wire 3,170,000 1,088,100 Hollow-ware .... 1,770,000 531,000 Cotton hosiery ... 3,319,000 199,000 Woollen & worsted

goods 13,542,000 12,337,000 Cotton prints .... 0,211,000 10,744,000 Electrical appara-

tus 8,034,000 *3,000,000 (*This figure is only approximate.) The total value of Germany's exports in 1913 was £405,000,000. Britain has now a splendid opportunity of intrenching horself strongly in the markets of the younger Anglo-Saxon nations and her dependencies, and building up a trade profitable both to herself and her customers, who would, as always, be prepared to give her preference so long as she satisfied their requirements.