EMPIRE TRADE

Taranaki Daily News, 5 February 1921, Page 5

EMPIRE TRADE

BRITISH PREFERENCE. ADDRESS BY MR. W. A. BEDDOE, An appeal to commercial men to keej| trade within the Empire was the keynote of an address delivered by Mr. W. A. Beddoe, Canadian Trade Commission- x er, at a meeting held at New Plymouth last night under the auspices of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce. Reference was also made to the preferential tariff existing between Canada and New Zealand, and the Commissioner also included in his remarks some interesting references to Canada, past and present. In the absence of the president of the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce (Mr. E. P. Webster) the chair was occupied by Mr. A. Goldwater. The chairman, in introducing the speaker, remarked that Mr. Beddoe had been the Canadian Government Trade Commissioner for eleven years, and the continuity of the term indicated, he thought, that the Government were well satisfied with the work Mr. Beddoe had been doing in New Zealand.—(Applause.) All knew that Canada had made a big effort in ’ the war and that her trade was enlarging, and a further opportunity for commercial expansion provided in the machinery which had been erected during the war. Prior to coming to , New Zealand Mr. Beddoe had been forty years in Canada. The speaker dwelt on the fact that the association of the men of the two Dominions during the war had fostered a strong feeling of kinship among the peoples of Canadia and New Zealand. CORDIAL RELATIONS. Mr. Beddoe also referred to the comradeship engendered between Canadians and New Zealanders during their war services together. Touching on trade matters he said that the cordial relations existing between the two Dominions was illustrated by the existence of the reciprocal preferential tariff adopted. Canada, he said, was the mother of the British preference idea, being the first tp give preference to British goods at her ports, and that idea had since been very generally followed throughout the Empire. He said he was very pleased to read that Mr. Massey had stated that, when revising the New Zealand tariff, he would lean towards more preference rather than more protection. In the reciprocal tariff between New Zealand and Canada the principle adopted was to try and make the tariff equal on both sides. The speaker proceeded to refer to the Canadian Government lines of steamers running to New Zealand. He said it seemed strange to him that the Canadian Government subsidised refrigerated boats and that these were allowed to go to Australia to load frozen meat for London, instead of loading for Eastern Canada. He remarked that they had a population of nine million people and had only two and a half million sheep, while New Zealand had a population of one million and twentvfour million sheep. They wanted mutton in Canada. HOW WE HELPED GERMANY. Leading to the question of doing business within tho Empire, Mr. Beddoe stated he did not know whether it had occurred to his audience, but it was a fact that the British Empire had made a heavy contribution to the German Navy, in the year before the war they had paid £23,000 per day to Germany. This totalled up 'for the year was equal to the of twenty-five Dreadno’ughta at three millions each. He had no i sympathy for Germany, and though he might be alone in the view, he would not spend a penny with that country. They were not entitled to it and were in no sense a subject for sympathy. They precipitated the war, causing unheard of hardship, and if the British statesmen kept to their promise Germany would be made to pay the full price. It was urged by Mr. Beddoe that British peoples should do all their business within the Empire in future, and spend their money among themselves, thus supporting the Empire. If they did not keep the nation together liberty. freedom, and happiness would be 1 unknown in the world. Illustrating how trade had grown between New Zealand and Canada, the speaker said that in 1910 the imports from that, country into New Zealand were £260.000. and last vear totalled £2,386,915. New Zealand’s exports to Canada had advanced from £160.000 in 1910 to £1.600 000 in 1919. He did not wish Io suggest that business men should do a great deal of importing from Canada, as ho thought * all should exercise econoinv. but would urge that whenever thev did buy good* they should purchase from British sources TRADE WITH AMERICA.

He had been amazed to see,that in the last three months of last year New Zealand had spent three millions in the United States of America. Of 6000 cars that came into New Zealand 3000 wore from the U.S.A. He considered it was spending too much in a place where the sovereign had a reduced value; this was his view from the economic standpoint. Mr. Beddoe informed his audience that all cars of American make which were sold in New Zealand were also manufactured in Canada, but under a very vicious agreement these ccnild not be exported. He hoped, however, that before long this disability would be removed. Further remarks by Mr. Beddoe touched particularly on Canada. He referred to the tremendous size of the Dominion, and recounted some Interesting historial facts concerning the discovery and early periods of Canadian settlement. In tracing the growth of tho country, the speaker touched on the as. sooiation of the Hudson Bav Company with the tyrst stages of immigration, the discovery of gold, and Klondike incidents. Incidentally he remarked that the idea of a canal at Panama was mooted by one of the first explorers when visiting the isthmus three hundred years ago. At the conclusion of the address a votq of thanks to Mr. carried by hearty