"SEND YOUR ORDERS ALONG."

Taranaki Daily News, 24 February 1916, Page 8

"SEND YOUR ORDERS ALONG."

TO THE BRITISH MANUFACTURER, 4 NATIONAL APPEAL. (From Our Own Correspondent.) Wellington, Tuesday. "The Germans can take to them' selves thfi credit, if it gives them satisfaction, of having done luore to arouse interest in trade matters in the United Kingdom than anything that has happened since King George made, his remarkable, appeal to the business men of England to wake up," said the British Trade Commissioner for New Zealand (Mr. R. W. Walton) at a luncheon of the New Zealand Club tc-day. Mr. Dalton was the guest of the club, and lie spoke upon the subject of British trade. ' "After the outbreak of war,'?' continued Mr. Dalton, "there was a period of absolute stagnation in British trade, owing to the general lack of confidence. But that stage quickly passed away and if you west to England to-day you would find it very difficult to believe that stagnation had ever existed. The workshops and factories of the United Kingdom are going a t high pressure night and day. Amusement, both for the manufacturing class and the -work people, i s practically non-existent. Our manufacturers and workers have one set purpose before them, that whatever nanpens, genera! trade or no general trade, the war is going to be won. The requirements of the War Office and the Afcuralfcy are going to be supplied, and (irdimi"-* kz& :>r.d ordinary 'profits are a secondary consiiU'i'ation. (Ap|j; ai1p ,.,.) "It is a popular rasliion to discredit the British manufacturer. Unfortunately it is more popular to discredit the British manufacturer in the British Dominions than in anv other part of the world. Personally, I strongly object to chat fashion. (Applause). We should never forget that Britain has taught the whole world how to manufacture and how to trade. For generations we held an absolute monopoly of the manufacturing industries of the world. It would have been unreasonable to expect that sueli a condition of affairs ivould be maintained for all time. A country, like Germany, with a vigorous nation and great natural resources, was bound to compete for trade in the markets of the world. But I contend that aiven cqii.v renditions, there is no manufacturer in the world more enterprising, '■■ ere ready to give you what you want! than the British manufacturer. (Applause). The trouble is that the conditions have not been equal. Whatever we may think of Germany we are bound to admit that she has applied great .organising power and much scientific knowledge to the development of industry. Many of the German methods are open to question. I think myself that if the war had not come when it did, German trade and industry would have reached a crisis of a very grave kind. But for all that tho Germans made themselves serious competitors in the open markets."

I Referring to German trading methods, Mr. Dalton said that the conditions were entirely dissimilar to those of the United Kingdom. The British manufacturer and trader, rightly or wrongly, had been taught to depend entirely upon their own efforts and their own resource*, Rut in Germany the banks were really industrial corporations, which were always ready to put money into trading and industrial concerns, and to place their representatives on the boards of directors, .without the sort of security that a British bank would demand. ' The Ger|man banks would lend money to a small manufacturer with no better security than his possession of an order for goods. Ho could not repay the bank ' until lie had manufacturer and sold the nods, and consequently the German banks, at the. outbreak of war, had no chance of recovering huge sums of money that had been lent without substantial security. Then there was a general system of subsidies connected with German trade. Railway lines, shipping, even some factories, were subsidised by the State. The purpose of ilie scheme was to ensure the production yf huge quantities of cheap goods, and ■their economical transportation to the markets of the world. But all that ilid not show that the British manulaeurcr was less enterprising than the German.

"I come to a rather delicate point," continued Mr. Dalton. "The thing that probably has helped .Germany most in the development of her trade is the attitude of certain British trade organisations. The whole of the trade of the world was at one tune in British hands. Onr great merchant corporations had a grasp on the trade of the world, and it was impossible for Ciermany to create hc-r trade without taking advantage of these organisations. I know that there are many sides to this question, but T hold that any trading concern is doing wrong which allows its organisation to he used to develop in an extraordinary ,vay foreign competition against the produets of its own country. (Applause). You all know that before the war goods were carried from Hamburg to New Zealand, via London, more cheaply than they were carried from London to New Zealand. The argument advanced in support of this practice was that as long as British vessels retained the shipping of the world we were masters of the sea, but the actual result was that Germany built up her trade with the Uritish Dominions through British shipping organisations. ''The German's were assisted in another way. If you sent an order to London for a specific article of British manufacture it did not necessarily follow that yon Were going to get a British article delivered to you. The merchant organisations .in London have passed on a good deal df their trade from the British manufacuring centres to German, 'American or other manufacturing centres. Various arguments are advanced in support of this practice, but I hope that we have learned our lesson now and that business men will realise that there are other questions than that of immediate profit to be considered. 'T do not want to boast of wbat the British manufacturers are doing at the present time. But I cannot refer to the subject without giving some account of their achievements. The British manufacturers at the present time are turning out largo quantities of goods lliftt have never been produced in the United Kingdom before, goods formerly supplied only by Germany. There is no more palirotic group of men in the whole Empire than the British manufacturers. During the last eighteen months I have come into contact with very many of these men in various parts or Britain, and I have asked them what was happening to their ordinary trade. Tliey have replied that no matter what the loss to them rrigiii be the oider-s f:?r war supplies had got to have first consideration. Many of tho manufacturers have been asked by -he War Office and I the Admiralty if they could undertake I to snjnly certain eaaaitiaj articles for

the war services. The production of these articles often lias entailed putting down special plant ami running it at a loss. But the manufacturers have taken the orders and hoped that they would be able to get some small profit later on. You will not find one industry in the United Kingdom at the present time that js not supplying articles of some description for war purposes. Practically every order that goes out from I he War Office and the Admiralty upsets g'enoral trade in the particular line sfleeted. But the manufacturers say that if they lose all their traue they are still going to fill the war orders:' they oven ask for war orders when their hooks are full of general orders of a highly profitable character. It is a fact that the War Departments are huyiii" in fro favorably in the United Kingdom than any other buyers. That means vhat every time a* manufacturer takes s\ war order he is losing hard cash. But he takes the order because, lie wants to win the war and win it quickly. (Applause). 'T contend that it is the duty of the British Dominions to stand by the British manufacturer. The British manufacturer at the present moment, as 1 said at the Town Hall (lie other day, h fighting the battles of the Umpire just as much as the armies in the field. 1 am perfectly certain that the people of New Zealand will stand by the Mother Country commercially as they have stood by her in the. field. The manufacturers will do their best. Send your orders along, take delivery when you can get them. Hold to your agencies. Ido not see how in patriotism you can possibly turn your hacks on the manufacturers who have been with you all these years. It will be in your own interest to stand by the British manufacturer. You can'take it from mo that the British -manufacturer has never been moro enterprising that he is nb the present moment. During this war lie is enlarging his works, extending his plant, reorganising his methods. Ho is going into trade after this war with all the force that he can lay hold of. lie is going to win out." i