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Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 57, 14 April 1914, Page 6

If tlie San Francisco correspondent of .the Sydney "Daily ■ Telegraph" has accurately sized-up the position with regard to the importations of New Zealand butter to the Pacific Coast, then it time that steps were taken immediately to Iftive the business placed on a stable footing. The need of thorough supervision of the butter was emphasised some months previously, when the cry was raised by the American agents that the New ; Zealand product was tainted. It was not until the Home exportation had been well established that the necessity for expert supervision at both ends of the journey was made apparent, and if the trade with the Pacific Coast is to flourish the like precautions will have to be observed in this case. To allow such abuses to creep in at this stage will have a damaging effect on the commercial reputation of the Dominion, and with the Australian Commonwealth entering heartily into competition for the supply of various primary products, it i 3 very undesirable that this slackness should obtain. With the American tariff door more widely ajar, the prospects for Australian exporters are exceedingly favourable. The States is likely to be a customer well worth looking after —this applies particularly to the Pacific seaboard, while the crowded East Coast cities will provide still another market for our wares. It will lake time to remove a bad first impression, and the Americans, deadly keen business men themselves, will not be sparing of criticism if their commercial rtlations with New Zealand disclose carelessness or neglect. If America is to buy our butter, cheese, and. frozen meat, each and all of these must be of the best quality, and guaranteed. There should be a market for second and third-class goods, but these should bear certificates to that effect. To allow third-class butter to be sold as firstclass without applying the ordinary remedy of careful inspection will only tend tp make the hard-bitten Yankee suspicious. And he is too good a customer to be frightened away, ev6n though some of his fellows are not overanxious to be friendly towards the oversea exporters.