The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. MONDAY, MAY 7, 1934. ANGLO-DOMINION TRADE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 106, 7 May 1934, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

MONDAY, MAY 7, 1934. ANGLO-DOMINION TRADE.

For the cause that licks assistance. For the wrong that needs resistance For the future in the distjnce t And the good that ice can do

Although it was agreed at Saturday's conference of New Zealand Ministers with Mr. Bruce that the removal of misunderstandings between the Dominions and Britain was the most important task ahead, the official statement goes no further than to stress the need of co-operation between overseas producers and the farmers of the, United Kingdom. The issues, however, do not concern producers alone. In lS T ew Zealand this has been recognised in regard to dairying by the decision of the Government to accept full responsibility for the solution of the problems immediately ahead and to treat these problems as of national concern. In Britain the Government has accepted similar responsibility in launching its milk subsidy scheme and in undertaking the extensive planning of agriculture. And on both sides, in Britain and Dominion, there is the question of how far prosperity depends upon, and can be promoted by, the recovery of the farming class. To New Zealand and Australia prosperous, primary industries are, of course, of more direct and vital importance than they are to Britain, for it is foodstuffs and raw materials that make up the great bulk of their exports. Britain, on the other hand, relies upon the overseas demand to take her huge surplus of manufactured goods. It is in the interchange of primary and manufactured goods that the interests of the Dominions and the Mother Country are reciprocal, and this in the past has determined the character of Empire trade. To-day, while this interchange is still of basic importance, it is complicated by new and important factors. One is that Britain is no longer content to expose her own farmers to the consequences of outside competition; another is that the Dominions have their secondary industries to consider, because these provide avenues for employment, and in the long run improve the home market for primary produce; and still another is that foreign trade has been disturbed and thrown out of its former balance by restrictions of many kinds and by the political unrest that has developed in several parts of the world. As one result of the disturbances in the trade of the world, the British market has been glutted with the exports upon which the welfare of the Dominions is based. Some attention was given to this phase of the trouble at Saturday's conference, and the published statement shows that the Ministers regard the diversion of produce to Britain as the original cause of agricultural planning. They do not indicate, however, to what extent the Dominions and foreign countries are responsible for the glut conditions. It has been popular to criticise the foreigner as if he Avere the only offender, but figures covering the trade in dairy produce show that Australia and New Zealand together have outstripped all other competitors in recent years. These figures are of such importance that they should be more widely known. A tabulation prepared by the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with Canterbury College, gives British dairy imports as follow: — (Thousands of Tons.) BUTTER. Denmark. N.Z. Aust. Other. Tl. 1924 .. 8G.7 «. 54.3 32.5 91.1 2G4.0 1928 .. 100.8 G1.4 43.0 100.2 306.0 1932 .. 129.2 111.2 89.8 92.2 422.4 1933 ... 12G.0 125.6 54.7 105.4 441.7 CHEESE. N.Z. Canada. Other. Tl. 1924 74.0 50.3 20.1 144.4 1928 77.8 40.0 20.5 150.3 1932 92.0 37.4 20.3 150.3 1933 102.0 31.5 17.4 150.9 Nothing could illustrate more convincingly the supreme position which New Zealand holds as an exporter of dairy produce. There is no exaggeration in the phrase applied to her, the dairy farm 'of the Empire. Denmark, our nearest competitor, appears as a butter exporter only, while in cheese this Dominion supplies two-thirds of the total imports of Britain. Equally illuminating is the trend revealed over recent years. Since 1928 the Dominions have gone ahead by leaps and bounds. Expansion at this pace, of course, cannot be continued, and already there is an easing in Australia, but the question for the immediate future is whether the Dominions can hold the advance that has been made.