CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 50, 28 February 1901, Page 3

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT,

Tin: QUESTION OF FEDERATION

The annual meeting of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce was held yesterday

afternoon. The. retiring President. Mr Samuel Vaile,

read a long and carefully prepared address.

dealing with various matters of importance. In the course of his remarks he said, after dealing with his recent visit to Australia:— - 'federation with Australia is a subject that must command a great deal of attention during the year belorc us, and I would earnestly impress upon tne iu.lr.-_.d_m] members of this c number the necessity and the duty of studying this great question for lUi'iiiti.lvcs. 'ii;,, more t study it the more utleiiy opposed i am to New Zealand joining the Australian Commonwealth, and my recent visit to Sydney ami Melbourne has .strongly confirmed me. iv this opinion. Time will not aliou me here lv stale all my reasons, but 1 may remind you lint the step once taken can never be recalled. We must keep this fact constantly in our minds. 1 feel certain thai: should we enter the federation, from mat moment .New Zealand as

a world influence would cease to exist: we should have uo more power over the destinies of Australasia or in the councils of the Empire than one of tlie counties now lias over the destinies of this country. The most we could hope to attain to would be iho unenviable position Ireland occupies in the British . .abutment, ami we should probaoly have to adopt Parnellite methods to attract any attention; we should simply be swallowed up iv the immensity of Australia. Now wo have some standing in the world; wo have led hi some things, and aro known as a distinct people, lv Africa our troops have won distinction and renown. Gad we been part of the Australian Federation, would that distinction have come to usV \vr <- should have made the sacrifice, but the- honour and the profit would have gone to Australia. Jt would have been the Australian army, for bear iv mind the title is to be, not even Australasia, but Australia, lt appears to me that iv a community like ours wo ought to have many ambitions, many aspirations, far above the export price of oats and potatoes, and that only the present price. I am very strongly of opinion I hat entering the Australian Commonwealth would bring nothing but dis-

aster to New Zealand. We should lose our independence, and 1 think be degraded politically, socially, morally, and commercially, (in the oilier hand, if we stand out, and work energetically with Australia and Canada till we bring about the federation ol the Empire, we shall have everything to gllir. and nothing to lose. We ought also to remember that if we enter lliis federation we should betray a sacred trust we owe to the .Maoris, and make them for ever our bitter enemies. The only reason I have ever heard stated why we should join the federation is that il would give us free trade with four millions of people, bm those who use this argument have failed to notice that Clauses 101 to 104 of the Australian Federation Enabling Act give to certain men, as yet unnamed ami unknown, the power to override the Customs tariff by means of a railway tariff. I have beeu told that this cannot be done. I saythat it is done in other countries, it is done in this country, ami it. will be done to a greater extent In Australia. By means of the railway tariff it would be quite easy to shut out our produce. We are supposed to have free-trade in New Zealand, but W.< have not. Last year lilt people in Canterbury and Otago an every ton of goods that passed over their lines received a reduction In charge of 8d per ton; Wellington, Hawke's Bay, and Taranaki, G4d per ton; but Auckland received a reduction of only :_!Jd per ton. If this can occur in our own country, and no one but a railway student could find It out, what might we expect to occur if the interests of New Zealand and Australia should- clash? U may b<' well to remind those who are so arrcio of losing our Austra iaii Hade that New /.aland is quite as •■•ah.ab'.e to Australia

as Australia is io -is. Lust j.ni our impi/iib from Austral a an.oun.td to £1,7(0----hi!». and we exported to Australia £1,»07,----081', so that tho balance of our exports over imports wa.s only £!K),203. For many years to come the flnanical requirements of the Commonwealth will be great, and they arc not likely to do anything to destroy any portion of their trade, and besides, I aih convinced that their statesmen have not

Ihe least intention to attempt to force us io join them, nor to do anything that is not fair and right to this or any other country. Last year our total trade with Austiulia was but 15j per cent, of the whole, and for a portion, aud a portion only, of this miserable mess of jpottage some people would have to sell our birthright. Like Esau we should regret it when too late.

■'Coming nearer home and dealing with local affairs, the event of the greatest importance is the movement io federate the Chambers of Commerce of the colony. This mo.emeut arose out of tho attempt made by the Government to paws the Chambers of Commerce and Mines Registration Bill of 1000. The process of federation is now Koing on. and we hope will be completed before the next session of Parliament. It is interesting to note that on the same day the Congress was held in Ckristehuich a Congress of all the Australian Chambers was held In Sydney for the same purposefederation. So you will see they, like ourselves, feel the necessity for combination. What occurred the last session of Parliament shows tho urgent necessity that exists for closely watching all legislation affecting trade and commerce. Chambers of Commerce are probably now the only institutions iv this country that are quite free from Government .niluenee, aud it: Is our business by careful watching and energetic action to sec that tney maintain and improve their position.

"We ought to and must make a groat effort to largely lucrcaso our membership. That out of a town of 70.000 or 80,000 people we should have a membership of only 140 is not to our credit. The old idea was that Chambers of Commerce should be composed of merchants only, but commerce is absolutely dependent on production, and therefore 1 think we ought to make every effort to bring the producers ii. with us, and seeing that all our trade is founded on the products of the soil, we ought to pay special attention to agricultural, pastoral, aud mining pursuits. AVhen we get a hail of c v- own 1 hope we shall have in it an ngrU-ji'Tiia- and past.oralists' Mom, a mai.ufa' Hirers' room, aud a miners' Willi, ill ..iiicli tlity can hold their committees atid nsc the large ball for their general met-tings.. Everything we do to build up those incllislrics must tend to increase the trade and commerce of the emery and the iL'fiueLce of our Chamber, AYe want, and v-o mean as soon as we have out' own hall, to establish such a trade and commercial library as will be an attraction t't every commercial man in the province. AVc want also to establish two or more commercial scholarships. AYe want also to continuously enforce on the Government the necessity for providing liberally for technical education.

"During the year I have had the honour to be your President numerous complaints have been made to your Council, and also thpongif the Press, of the treatment Auckland merchants and traders have received from the Union Shipping Company. AYe have done all that can be done. Letters have been written, managers have been interviewed, but the position remains the same, and the conclusion I have arrived at is that our only remedy is to have a steam fleet of our own. By this I mean a fleet of coastal and intercolonial steamers, owned by Auckland citizens, and with Auckland asj the port "oj. departure and arrival. AYe have the nucleus of such a fleet in tho Northern S.S. Co. AVUy .should not the capital and sphere of action of this company be greatly enlarged? Wh£ should we continue to pay to Southern interests the heavy tribute 'we do, and in return have our trade and commerce gradually but surely filched from us? AVhat we want is such an increase in our coastal fleet as will enable us fpj fully develop our East Coast trade. We .want also to look after the AVest Coast ports of Kaipara, Hokianga, Kawhia, etc. By the back door of Kaipara a large portion of the trade of the northern end of this island, which c.early ought to belong to Auckland, has already passed 'over to Australia, and much more will speedily follow if "we" do not keep a'sharp look-out. Bart of this loss is without doubt due to the non-extension- of railway's' north of Auckland, and for this non-estension Auckland citizens are' certainly a good deal to blame. In addition to an increased coastal fleet we want two intercolonial steamships to take up the running between Auckland and Sydney and Melbourne, and these must be of a larger and better eiass than any we have engaged In that trade now. I shall be told this means a large investment of capital. Clearly it does, and in" addition probably at first a considerable loss: but in the end it must pay. I believe the whole capital can be raised in .\tick* land, A very-small portion of what we put into gold-mines—too often bi>gus ones— ~. ■• / 4

would mare than suffice and would certainly give ii better return. Should it, UoweVer, be found to be too lujavy an undertaking for Auckland alone, it would be rjuilc- easy to get one of the British shipbuilding firms to join us."

After drawing attention 1n Auckland's needs in the matter of railway construction.' Mr Vaile proceeded:

-Mr t". FowicU, M.H.R., informs me that there are no.v 500 men at work on the Cen; tral Trunk Line, that the rock cuttings are proceeding satisfactorily, and that there 'is every prospect of the rails being laid to Kawakawa by September, as furnished by ihe Minister for Public Works. He a__--o informs me that on the line north of Auckland IjO are employed, that about two chains of the tunnel have been coml__eted, and that this niie is also likely to be opened as far as Hun; s place- at the I line mentioned by Mr Hall-Jones. I would pp.hit out that Cms North ol Auckland line is ,\ par: of the Great Trunk Line of the colony, and i-; entitled to its share of the asseis that belong to it. We ought to insist oil these assets being made available, and the extension on both sides of Auckland being pushed on vigorously."

All Vaile also reviewed the New Zealand and Auckland trade returns for the past year, and said that Aucklanders m.ght congi'fUunito themselves on having had a very successful year's business. He advocated ihe construction of the AucklandMa,'ukau canal, and said it was pleasing to note that an effort was to be made to increase Now Zealand's trade with Africa. It appeared to him that there was also room for a similar effort with reference to India and South America. Our trade with these countries could be largely increased. The President's address was loudly applauded by members. ELECTION OP OFFICERS. On the motion of Mr Vaile, Mr P. R. C.ilnwt.' was unanimously elected President of the Chamber of Commerce for the ensuing year: Mr C.> Id well thereupon took the chair, and thanked members tor the honour they hul'dom. him in electing him. -.ii- following officers were elected for the ensuing year:—Vice-president, Mr Hugh Campueli. Members of Council: Messrs M. A. Clark, E. Mitchelson, John Reid, A. Kent, A. H. Nathan, C. Seegner, Roberton. VV. H. Smith, F. il. Ewington, J. M. MenUlo, S. Vaile, Finlayson, .1. Wiseman, W. I'l.-lscn, Graves Aickin. .1. Hardy, Geo. Fowids, and W. Gnnson. Mr o. li. Waymouth was elected auditor to the Chamber.

Votes of thanks were passed to the retiring President, Vice-president, and Council. A special vote of thanks was passed to Mr Samuel Vaile for his able services as President of the Chamber during the past year, f/n the motion of Air J. 11. Upton, seconded by Air John Reid.

Mr Vaile returned thanks and said he would continue to do all he could to advance the interests of the city and the community.

The manager of the Bank of Australasia and Mr John Allen were elected members of the Chamber. •