OPENINGS FOR TRADE.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 August 1922, Page 6

OPENINGS FOR TRADE.

NEW ZEALAND AND DUTCH EAST INDIES. THE FORTY MILLIONS OF JAVA. Mr. P. E. Teppema, Consul-General for the Netherlands in Australia and New Zealand, addressed the council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday on trade with the Dutch East Indies. He emphasised that they could not hope to do much trade with New Zealand unless New Zealand traded with them, and said that as New Zealand had what they w’anted. there was ample reason to believe that trade could be established between the Dominion and Java. “There is,” '.aid Mr. Teppema. “a good market in the East Indies for New Zealand tinned butter, milk, and cheese. Everything had to be tinned owing to the high temperatures. Though New Zealand had not yet gone in for tinning butter, there was no reason why it should not do so. A tinning plant was not expensive, and the art of tinning butter was not a very difficult one to acquire. Australia, which was more alert, did quite a trade in tinned butter. The quality of the Dominion’s product was so uniformly excellent that it should command a share of the trade. There was a fair demand for milk, but not so much for cheese, though it was a growing one. FORTY MILLION CONSUMERS.

It had to be borne in mind, he declared, that there were 40,000,000 people in Java, and they—the natives—were well off, as they now earned treble the. wages they did before the war. As a result of that improvement in their position, they were developing a taste for Western ways, clothes, and foods. He had seen natives on rare occasions in silk socks, and many of them who were well-to-do in superior boots and shoes. They were going in, too, for biscuits as an item of diet —a thing never thought of before the war, so that even Java which was very neutral, had undeigone a social change as the result of the big upheaval. There was a good market for all classes of leather goods; heavy ox hides were needed to make belting, and sole leather was wanted for the manufacture of sandals for the natives „ Those were perhaps only a few of the lines' New Zealand could sppply. Probably more could be found if a commis-. sion or delegation were to go to Java, and see for themselves the pos'ibil ties of a market that existed almost at their i door—for Java was only a fortnight’s stream from Wellington. He suggested that such a delegation, if sent, should consist of a Givernment representative; , a commercial malf. and a representative of the New Zealand manufacturers. PRODUCE FOR EXPORT.

Java’s chief products for export were sugar, tea, and kapoc. There was also mineral oil, but they had no # need to worry about markets' for their oil. As a matter of fact, the Royal Du ten Oil Company produced about half the benzine and kerosene used in the world. It was a vast corporation, with many subsidiary companies in Java, Sumatra, Rumania. Mesopotamia, California, Mexico, and elsewhere. A good deal of its capital was English, and its products played a large part in the transport work on the side of the Allies during the war. Sumatra —a great country o c the future—had vast oil resources, were gradually being opened up. Mr. Teppema said that he realised exactly the position of New Zealand in relation to the sugar industry. During last year a duty of y 2 d per lb was imposed on Javanese sugar, which, with the transhipping charges at Sydney, formed a heavy handicap. It was not i a refihed sugar, as refining was understood in New Zealand, but it was eminently suited for all requirements in New Zealand, except the condensed milk industry. A halfpenny duty meant £4 3s 4d pel* ton. They would like to see that duty removed, even if it were v .y to show how good Java sugar was. Last year Australia had consumed 25,000,000 lb of Javanese tea—about half the tbtal consumption—and it was admitted duty free. In New Zealand they had to pay 5d per lb duty (2d per* lb higher than Ceylon tea), and so they could not very well compete, j for on top of the duty there were extra shipping charges; but it was interesting to note the attitude of New Zealand compared with that of Australia. Another thing was that New Zealanders had been drinking Ceylon tea so much that it would be necessary to wait before a taste for the fine teas of Java cotlld be developed. Kapoc came in free, but there was a duty of Id per lb against tapioca and sago. As this meant about £9 per ton, it kept Javanese tapioca out of the market, which was a great pity, as the quality was superior to that of the product of the Straits Settlements, whence came New Zealand’s supplies. Java had no rice to export. Although a rice-grow'ing and rice-eating country, she was not growing enough for her own consumption, and had to import from Saigon, 'Siam, and Rangoon. At present they were trying to catch up to the demand by breaking in new ground in Sumatra, and the Government was transplanting natives over there on contract, and offering them inducements to settle there in order to relieve Java of some of her millions.