LAUDS NEW ZEALAND.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 168, 17 July 1924, Page 5

LAUDS NEW ZEALAND.

A WORKER'S PARADISE. (From Our Own Correspondent) ■ SAX FRANCISCO, June 10. ' Another praiseworthy effort has been made to interest American commercial men in- the products of New Zealand, with a'view to extending the trade of the island Dominion with the United States, and it was in that guise that ilr. Albert Spencer, president of the Auckland j'rovincial Employers' Association, and of the New Zealand Immigration and Land Settlement League, I busied himself while in .San Francisco, the principal trading centre on the Pacific. Coast. While in the "Western American metropolis, Mr. Spencer, who was accompanied by Mrs. Spencer, on a tour of the world, incidentally described New Zealand as the workers' paradise, and he lost no opportunity of driving home to Americans the beauties and potentiI alities ■of New Zealand from various points of view. J "I have been given a year's leave !of absence, " he said at the Hotel I Somerton, "and E plan to tour the ! United States, Canada, the European Continent. India, the Orient, and Australia, before returning home. Throughout my journey I shall endeavour to collect information on labour and immigration conditions of value to New Zealand. "New Zealand is truly the workman's paradise. Wages there are not as high as in the United States, but living is correspondingly cheaper. High, wages in building trades, for instance, mean high building costs; high, building costs in turn cause high living costs. 'Tew strikes occur in New Zealand. Average disputes between employer and employee are settled by arbitration. We have a Conciliation Board before which disputes are first taken. If not settled there the case goes before the Arbitration Court. Tile system has proved beneficial to employer and employee. "Coloured races do not compete with white labour in New Zealand because of ( strict immigration laws. A Chinese must pay a poll tax of 500 dollars to enter New Zealand, in addition to passing education tests. The result is obvious. Our isolated position protects us froir, the usual flood of Oriental immigrants. We invite Americans to visit our country because we believe we have many things in common. We are hopeful of increasing trade with America. A certain reciprocity is necessary, of course, before that can be done. It is for this reason that 00 per ! cent of our trade is with Great Britain. "Dairy products are among our chief exports" We believe that our butter and cheese are the finest in the world. Wool is another item of importance and one with which, if restrictions were removed, we would like to enter in trade with America. "There is a comfortable balance m our favour in our import and export btisiness each year. Our exports total approximately .£51,000.000 annually, and imports "between £35,000,000 and £40,000,000." Most of the San Francisco newspapers published the views of Mr. Spencer, and generally a new fillip was afforded the movement of increasing trade with the countries of the Southern Seas, especially by business firms located in California.