Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1917. THE ISLANDS TRADE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVII, Issue 9126, 23 October 1917, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1917. THE ISLANDS TRADE.

One of tM most important reports submitted to Parliament this session is that of the Indus-, tries'.Committee of the House ".of Representatives, on the : subject of, trade with the Pacific Islands. Only now are .. the commercial men of the dominion beginning to ".realise that this valuable trade is practically lost to them, though the fact has been plain for a number of years that lack of enterprise at this end has been causing business to be diverted to Australia and America. The committee stated in its report that it had enquired into the question of.trade with the Pacific Islands, particularly the Fijian, Samoan, and Cook groups. The information available was limited and inconclusive in character, but there were many indications that the resources of the Islands were capable of considerable-extension, especially in regard to fruit and copra industries, the production of fruit, in particular, being capable of almost unlimited development, which would secure for the Dominion a. plentiful and cheap supply. It was further shown that,: owing to the shortage and irregularity of; snipping and tile high v freight's 1 ■ ruling,, the import and export trade hadbeen considerably restricted. The committee recommended to the favourable consideration of the Government —(1) That the Government should take measures to bring about :»w improved and regular steamed service between the various islands and the Dominion.

(2) That an exhaustive enquiry be :macl6 by a competent business man, who should be engaged to visit the principal islands, and report generally Hipon the whole question of the present and future possibilities of trade. (3) That investigations should be made regarding the possible existence of phcKsphates and guano deposits. The whole question resolves itself into the provision of shipping j facilities, and in this connection i it is interesting to quote an ex--1 tract from a speech delivered at Suva, Fiji,, on May 28, 1900, by the• late;R: J. Seddon. After referring to the fact that during his tour of ijie. Pacific Islands he had ■ been-gathering information about the extent and class of the trade of the Islands, Mr Seddon said: -.—"When r was told in Tonga that the • saloon passage to New Zealand was c£lo (now l'aisec} to £W)> and when X earnest© 'Fijiand learnt, ;that 4or/,a. fe^y days.*; ; run .tlie-.faift was £10, I said it was • • prohibitive. Then, ; again, £2 Ts 6d- a ton for goods - from Auckland to Tonga, with an extra 5s for various other charges, means that the connection be..tween tlieHwo is not..wlia,t..it ought to be, and it means'.' iEat the State, as- a State, must step in until th© trade grows, and by that, mettjis reduce thpie charges! ..... ;.., l.:have no hesitation iii saying ' tliat iiii fixing; our subr.. sidy, we 'ought, to ;fix! ;tlie maximum "ot;-pas.senger rates and the rates for- the carriage of produce.'' 'The late Mr Seddon had a habit ot 1 getting right down to the vital point of every subject he discussed;> and in his summary of i.ke position with regard to the Islands trade he located the real stumbling^ block in thet AVay of its developmentir • ' The i Industries Committee};-doe> not appear, to have had; an ■; opportunity of asceivtamtag\thV'rei^bjto;ic»:^e''diver7., : sion»;lpl -the' Jslinds trade, to Aus-. tralia, but .there is no doubt that the chief reason is the competition that exists between : the Union Steamship Company and the ' '%". XTJS.NV * Company in the Sydney - Melbourne - Fiji trade. Though the distance from Fiji to Sydney is about 500 miles greater tlian'froni Fiji to Auckland, up till'recently the freight was practically the same for both .runs. There, are V,many aspects to the question qf securing a better pro-' portion: M^be Islands- trade, and these cannot be ascertained except by adopting the Industries Committee's suggestion that a business man be sent to the Islands to make a thorough, investigation. He would find that there are grown in most o£ the

groups products that would readily find a market in New Zea^ land if facilities were offered. The chief of these are tea (of excellent quality), coffee beans, rice, cotton, rubber, and sisal hemp, not to mention tobacco leaf, which is stated by experts to be equal to the best varieties grown in Cuba. With the exception of rice (which is grown by the Indian coolies for their own use), all of these products are exported to Australia or America—-not in large quantities, it is true, but the trade is growing larger every year. The Industries Committee deserves commendation for its report, which, in the interests ,of the development of a most important trade, should not 'be relegated to departmental pigeon-holes. ;