AMERICA GRABBING TRADE.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 253, 24 October 1919, Page 9

AMERICA GRABBING TRADE.

i- — v STEPPING INTO ENGLAri-'S i SHOES. ( LOCAL IMPORTERS' VIEWS. ! That there is a general trend of New c Zealand trade towards America is the opinion of .Mr. Alfred Court, who re- • turned to Auckland by the Niagara on Wednesday. Mr. Court stated yesterday that English manufacturers were unable to do more than supply the home demand, so that importers in Xew Zealand were forced to seek other markets. This state of affairs, he said, com- I menced soon after the outbreak of war, j and during the war period, was natural j enough. With the conclusion of hostil- | ities, however, matters had not im- j proved. His own firm had placed very large orders with English firms, but ! had* been informed that these could not I ibe fulfilled 'or from twelve to fifteen | 1 months hence. The matter was not one , of price of the goods concerned, but of j . the difficulty of delivery overseas in face | |of the big demand in England itself. | I It was to be admitted, Mr. Court said. | ; that the American goods seemed to ap- j ! peal more to the colonial taste than the | English manufactures—especially articles iof dress. He considered that during his I recent visit to England and America, the most smartly dressed people were ;to be seen in New York. American cxi porters were fully alive to the possibilities of colonial trade, and it was a | significant fact that while the American : .mail brought an inundation of exporters' j quotations, periodicals, and catalogues, \ there was not a sinsle trade journal or circular arrived from England. In some cases, the American manufacturers were placing goods on the market in •Xew Zealand at a cost less than that nt which they were offered in America. This was usually the result of overproduction: say, for instance, a manufacI turer wished to make four thousand of a | certain line, he might be able to cut ' down the total cost by producinsr five or six thousand. The extra quantity was ' then available for exportation at * lower price. It will be a difficult matter, Mri Court added, for England to remake the - old trade relations with the Dominion in view of this American competition - In any case, it would be quite eighteen 5 months or two years before ti>c Old i Country would be able to consider re s suming export to New Zealand on any , thing like the former scale.