THE TRADE WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 63, 14 March 1919, Page 5

THE TRADE WAR.

GETTING THE GUNS READY. jNEW ZEALAND .SHOULD PREPARE. PROMINENT AUSTRALIAN'S VIEWS,. After an absence of two years, Mr. Octavius C. Beale is returning to his home in Australia, having fulfilled an important mission in Europe. Besides his work on behalf of Australian soldiers, Mr. Beale has been advancing the cause of the Associated Chambers (J Manufactures of Australia. A striking statement of what was to be accomplished in the direction of protecting and extending the trade of the British Empire was made hy Mr. Beale in an interview with a "Star" reporter yesterday. "I was occupied firstly in visiting all the hospitals where Australian soldiers were to be found," he .aid, "in order to see that the de_i»e_ of the commandant of the Australian and Imperial force- that the wounded men should receive their comforts, conveniences and attention from the two departments—that is to say the military authorities and the Red Cross—that were due to them. That work being completed I undertook, at the request of the commandant, the care of the soldiers' dependants, wives and children, who were resident in Great Britain. No provision had been made for the dependents of Australian soldiers who were resident outside of the Commonwealth—a great injustice that demanded some remedy. After strenuous I representations to the Defence Depart:ment of the Commonwealth, the allow■anc e made to dependents in Australia was so extended as to include thos. resident in Great Britain. Thi- rectification, however, was only made on August 1. 1918, after four years of war. That concluded my work in this respect. MAXUFACTURERS WILL FIGHT. '* During the whole of my stay in England," he continued, j'T was connected with the British. | Empire Producers' Organisation, being jupon its executive, and for some time vice-chairman. This organisation consists of associations of manufacturers and other producers. It was initiated by the sugar producers of the Empire, whose interests have been brought ;under one hat in London, so that their voices may be heard in unison wheu political questions arise affecting them. With this nucleus, many other associations joined the organisation, such as the British Engineering Association, the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers' Association, the Rice Miller* of England, the Sugar Machinery Manufacturers, the Indigo and Poppy Planters of India, the Associated Manufacturer, and Producers of South Africa, thAsaociated Chambers of Manufactures of Australia, and the Canadian Manufacturers' Association. THE TRUST SYSTEM. "The intent of the organisation is to defend, develop and extend the industries of the British Empire, taken ac a whole, against foreign penetration, which would seek to bring them under ccntrol, as did Germany before the war. The organisation raised a very considerable | propaganda fund, which enabled it to .arrange meetings throughout Great Brijtain, many of which I have myself 4d- | dressed in Glasgow, Perth, Barrow, Preston, Lancashire, Derby, Loughborough, Leicester. London and elsewhere. The organisation also provided meetings in which the Prime Minister was able to express his views in the same direction —the extension and security of British industry throughout the Empire. The necessity for this may be accounted apparent from the single fact that an :Act has passed Congress of the United .States enabling and encouraging the very trusts which were dispersed by the Sherman and Clay_->n anti-trust legislation, to get togetner and resume their combined activities outside of the United States. This legislation authorises any form of combine for operations abroad, provided that it did i not act within the United States in restraint of trade or in unfair competition. :Xo such restrictions are placed on tbe ,work of any combine 60 long as they be external to the United States. AX OMXLPOTEXT COMBINE. "It is well known in Australia and Xew Zealand that an omnipotent combine of Chicago meat packers has obtained an i overmastering control of the products of jthe flocks and herds of Australia; that it has already extended its tentacle* into Australia and New Zealand. Probably the meat trust is the most observable of all such combinations, but there are others equally active if more seldom seen on' the surface. It therefore beihoves manufacturers and producers of jXew Zealand to get together to protect themselves against external control, which would hold them in a net that would become, in the course of a short time, inescapable. "On communicating with the officera of the British Empire Producers' Organisation, of -which Lord Londonderry is president, at 62, Oxford Street, London, complete information may be obtained as to means of defence. A PRE-WAR LESSON". '"It will be remembered that before the war Germany was in absolute and undisputed control of the metal industries of Australia. She 70 per cent of all the exports of hides and skins from India —a commodity basic, of course, to the leather trade. Almost the whole of the exports of rice to j Europe come from British Burma, and this vast trade had also fallen under 'German control. The rice was milled ia j Germany, and re-exported, the rice mills !in England being turned idle. The state of the sugar trade of the British Empire lis known to all, for whereas at one time | England practically refined all her own I sugar, the refineries were finally closed by German antagonism. Through tbe circle system of banking Germany had obtained a control of a large proportion of South African mines, and thereby the supply of their machinery and requisites. Obviously such an example may easily be followed, and it remains for the producers and industrialists of the British Empire to decide whether ttiey will retain their interests and their fate in their own hands or permit themselves to fall under foreign domination."