GERMAN TRAVELLERS.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 June 1922, Page 4

GERMAN TRAVELLERS.

AT WOBK IX AUSTRALIA THE TOURIST TRAFFIC. CHANCES FOR NEW ZEALAND. Many of the shopkeepers in Melbourne and Sydney are apprehensive regarding what may happen on August 1, said Mr. T. C. List, president o-f the Taranaki Chamber of Commerce, to a Wellington Times reporter on Wednesday, upon his Yeturn from Australia. Whilst in those cities recently he was informed that German travellers had been offering goods at uncommonly low prices. One business man in Sydney related that he had been offered women’s silk stockings—or what passed for silk —at Is lid per pair, and men’s woollen socks at is per pair. Sewing machines were offered at from £2 10s to £4, and pianos at from £2O to £3si The goods, the traveller assured the business man, were in Capetown and Buenos Ayres, and could be shipped an July.

The Commonwealth have an antidumping law which can be put into operation in respect o-f any particular article that may be dumped into Australia by Germany. Whether it will be invoked in respect of the threatened invasion was a matter of general comment in business circles. Meanwhile, sacrificing sales in many lines of goods are the order of the day in both cities.

“New Zealand is missing great opportunities in Australia at the present time in connection with the tourist traffic,” said Mr. List. “Australians are not going to England now in the numbers they used to, on account of the big cost entailed, and. are looking elsewhere to. spend their holiday. Most of them are turning to Queensland in the winter and Tasmania in the summer.

“Now, there is no reason at aB why they should not be induced to come to New Zealand, a country where they can. see everything that Europe has to oiler. To do this, greater help must be given the New Zealand Government tourist offices in Sydney . and Melbourne. Tn both Mr. Bolt and Mr. Manson the Dominion has worthy and enthusiastic representatives. Both are held in high esteem by those wntn whom they come in contact. But they cannot make bricks without straw..

“More* money must be given them to advertise New Zealand’s advantages and attractions from a tourist’s point of view, and this work must be backed up by the shipping companies and New Zealand hotelkeepers. But the Government must take the initiative. I feel sure hundreds—aye, thousands of Australians would spend their holiday in New Zealand if only the proposition was placed properly before them. We have the goods to deliver, and we arc neglecting a splendid opportunity of bringing many thousands of pounds into the Dominion by not more adequately supporting our Australian representatives. It is a matter which might well be given attention by the Government.”