BRITISH TRADE WITH NEW ZEALAND.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 43, 19 February 1908, Page 9

BRITISH TRADE WITH NEW ZEALAND.

. IHE EFFECTS OF PREFERENCE. AN" INTERESTING REPORT. (From Our Special Correspondent.) LOXDOX. January 10. The Board of Trade issued this week l report on the conditions and prospects of British trade in New Zealand. The report is based chiefly on information collected by Mr. R. J. Jeff ray, the Commissioner of the Board, in his recent tour through the Dominion, and is now pubIbhedas .a Blue-book (Cd. 3567). The summarised conclusions which Mr. Jeff ray arrives at are: — "The Dominion of New Zealand presents a market which, though small in comparison with Canada. Australia, or South Africa, is vet considerable, is steadily expanding, and presents great possibilities for the future. In that market British merchants and manufacturers hare by far the greatest share, and although that share did decline slowly for i-ome years, the downward movement appears to have been cheeked Eince 1902. "This improvement, is undoubtedly due in part to the greater energy displayed by British manufacturers and traders. who have succeeded in some instances in recovering ground which they had lost; and to some extent also to the effect of the preferential arrangements made in 1903. it may be noted that whilst the new tariff of New Zealand does not. except in a few cases, lower the barrier asrainst imports from the United Kingdom and British possessions, it increases the advantage which British traders enjoy over their foreign rivals. "Nevertheless, there is considerable and active competition from the United States. Germany, France, and Belgium, and evidence of active efforts on the part of those countries to promote their trade with the Dominion. There are a few classes of goods which the United Kingdom might supply in which the trade is held almost entirely by foreign countries, but with the exception of certain goods for which the countries named have acquired a special reputation, such as agricultural and some other machinery, tools and a few other metal manufactures from the United States, dress goods and some article? of apparel from France and Germany, and glass from Belgium, the goods obtained from foreign countries are in the main either cheap lines with which British mamifacturers—rightly or wrongly—have not cared to trouble themselves, or miscellaneous articles and fancy goods of many kinds which have never been important in British trade. "It appears, then, that, with the exercise of reasonable vigilance and attention to the desires and perhaps the prejudices of the consumers, there is no reason why British traders should not maintain and even improve their position in the New Zealand market."' PREFERE>rrLAL TREATMENT. A section of the report deals with the preferential treatment of British goods by means of an imposition of duties or additional dnties on goods of foreign origin which are similar to British goods. A table is given showing the imports of a class of goods subject to preferential treatment foT the three years preceding the Preferential Trade Act. 1901 to 1903, and for the three years since. 1903 to 1906. The table sho-«= that the foreign share of the imports of these goods, which was increasing up to and in 1903, -has since that year declined quickly, even in the prosperous year of 1906, when imports of these classes of goods increased by half-a-million pounds. The report proceeds: figures as a whole suggest that the effect of the preferential arrangements hag been to divert to the United Kingdom and the British possessions a portion of the trade formerly held by foreign countries in commodities affected by the preference. In particular, last Year, the United Kingdom and British possessions were enabled to secure the •whole of the increase in the imports of these commodities, about 22 per cent of the total imports into .sew Zealand. "This conclusion is borne out by eviaence collected both in the Dominion and in the United Kingdom from firms engaged in New Zealand trade. Thus it ■was stated that before the Act of 1903 Belgian iron bars could be placed in New Zealand cheaper than Scotch, or north country bars. The 20 per cent ad valorem duty on foreign bars has completely reversed matters. British iron can now be landed in New Zealand at less cost than Continental. The same statement is made as to most kinds of manufactured metal goods to which preferential treatment is accorded. Britishmade boots and shoes are also said to lenefit considerably. "The imports of the same goods from Anstralia. which also had preferential treatment, increased in the same period from £10,030 to £25.180. The increase in the United Kingdom's export to New Zealand of these particular goods is ascribed in part also to alterations in the methods of British manufacturers, in the j effort to recover trade from the Indited States. OTHER COLONIES BENEFIT. "•'Other commodities specially mentioned as having derived a substantial benefit from preferential treatment, were printing paper—Canada k said to have benefited "at the expense of the United Ststte3—and. tinned salmon; British Col- ' •mnbia now furnishes the supply which preriously came from the United States. a on the other hand, the amottnt of preference las stated in several cases to have been insufficient to affect seri- . onsly the course of trade. On pianos the j ■ 10 per cent additional ad valorem duty on foreign goods had very little effect, . at least as regards better instruments, , fat, because people who wished a good piano were not deterred by an extra 10 per cent duty, and, secondly, because the • lower freights from Hamburg to some , eawt neutralised the preferential rate. ■,-. i> a number of commodities the amount os tht preference did not counter-balance ; tte lower freights (as compared with fiiose from the United Kingdom) obtainiHe fj-enn the United States, and. in some «&S£S, from the Continent, via Australia, - or e*jn (i n a f ew instances) via British SMte." ■ I }*& y«u"- howevpj. the tariff was re- '- ■ Jj? additional preference granted . *T laisitg the duties on foreign goods, to thai "the new arrangements increases - ; V? advantage which the British manu-

' lacturer and trader enjoys in the Ne»» Zealand market over his foreign rivals." NEW ZEALAND MANXTACTUKES. The products of the Mother Country, however, as -well as those of foreign nations, have to face competition from New Zealand manufacturers:— "Before examining the import trade in detail, there is one other matter of some importance at present, and possibly of much grater importance in the future, to be taken into account. nw manutae- : turers of the United Kingdom hare to ; consider not only the nature and extent . of the competition which they encounter . with foreign countries, and its probable developments, but also the competition ■ which arises from the Dominion itself; and there are a number of cases in which the imports into New Zealand of manufactured goods represent only a small part of the total consumption of such goods within the Dominion. The policy of encouraging industrial enterprise has • been vigorously pursued by the New , Zealand Government both in its tariff legislation and in other ways since the Atkinson Tariff Act of 1888. . . In such food commodities as beer, aerated waters, and biscuits, practically the whole of the demand is supplied from within the Dominion, and the same is true in only a slightly less degree of jam and confectionery. Other domestic requirements mainly supplied by home industry are furniture (SG.4 per" cent), blankets (50.2 per tenth soap (69.3 per cent), clothes (05.7 per cent), and boots and shoes (64.4 per cent). United Kingdom and foreign manufacturers supplied in 190 C less than one-tenth of the tinware required in the Dominion, and less than two-fifths of the agricultural maeiiaery, whilst the New Zealand manufacturers' have the greater part of the trade also in saddlery and harness, cordage, rope, and twine, firebricks and cement, and' nearly half of the supply of candles. These are practically all industries which would naturally be the first to develop in an agricultural country such as New Zealand. In regard to all these commodities it appears to be dear that a continually growing share of the trade will be taken by the Xew Zealand manufacturers, and that, consequently., British manufacturers cannot look for any par- ' ticular expansion of the exports of these kinds from the United Kingdom to the Dominion.* , FOREIGN COMPETITION. On the subject of foreign competition in New Zealand, the report says: "Foreign competition in manufactured goods, -which the United Kingdom might supply entirely, is not then, on the whole, very extensive or severe, and it relates in many cases to articles in regard to which British manufacturers have never hitherto made any serious effort to develop their trade. The only exceptions to this general proposition appears to be agricultural machinery and implements, other machinery, boots and shoes, certain special kinds of textiles, wire fencing, and some kinds of hardware, notafelv tools; and in these cases, as we have seen, the success of foreign competition has been due to the greater suitability of their products to New Zealand conditions, greater attractiveness, or cheapness combined "with quality. '"It would, nevertheless, be a serious mistake to underestimate either the extent of foreign competition or its possibilities of expansion, and although British manufacturers may justly contemplate the present position with some satisfaction, yet they cannot afford to relax their vigilance, or be lulled into any feeling of security by a preferential tariff. The Germans in particular are making in New Zealand, as elsewhere, strenuous efforts to extend their trade, and, handicapped though they are by the preferential treatment of British goods, and by the absence of direct steamship communication—the latter, however, an obstacle which may be removed at any time—they I have yet made substantial progress,! though their share of the trade is still comparatively very small. The United States competition (in goods which the United Kingdom can supply) is menacing at times, but it fluctuates a good deal, and in the ease of some commodities' British manufacturers appear to have learnt a lesson and to be recovering part of the lost ground, and American competition seems to have made no progress in recent years.* , (The above appeared in part of a previous issue.)