The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1925. EMPIRE TRADE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVI, Issue 189, 12 August 1925, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 1925. EMPIRE TRADE.

For the causa that lacVi aaai»iant*. For the wrong that needs re*iatanc«. For the future in the diittanoe. And the good thai tee can da. 8 ————^———^^<^———^——^^—

» Comment on the report of the Imperial Economic Committee, which is sum- ! marisecl in our news today, may be |j divided into two parts, consideration of _ j the. recommendations for fostering I Empire trade, and criticism of the attitude of the Free Trade Press. The Committee says the time is ripe for a national effort to stimulate the consumption of Empire produce in Britain, and to that end it recommends better measures for the identification of Empire goods and a publicity campaign. Other recommendations are made for expenditure on research and on Dominion development, but we need not consider these now. The distinctive branding of Empire goods may bo difficult, but it should not be impossible. In New Zea--5 : land, for example, all fruit exported now carries a national brand, and it ehould not be requiring too much of the English consumer to ask him to recognise the words "Xew Zealand" as proof that the produce has been grown in the Empire. Publicity work must go with the adoption of more easily recognisable markings. Xo time wae ever so favourable for a well-organieed campaign to induce the English consumer to buy Empire in preference to foreign goods. The war 'greatly extended the education of the j I public in Empire values and possibilities. j The disturbed state of Kurope in the post-war period has turned the thoughts of many to the Dominions as markets for British goods and areas for British emigration. The interest that the Labour party has shown recently in Empire development—there is a section of the ; party that believes in preference—ls a , ; sign of the times. The nation is ready > to be educated in the use of Empire products. , The "Westminster Gazette" says that "it is absurd for the Committee to sugi gest by the manipulation of statistics that the Empire offers a better market for British manufacturers than the rest of the world," and the "Daily Xewe," an equally strong Free Trade paper, says that the British housewife will buy to suit her purse, and that "a self-contained Empire can no more be created by the mass production of propaganda than by the more questionable methods of subsidies and tariffs. ,. The "Westminster Gazette" is thinking of total trade and not trade per head. Britain's exports io , foreign countries are more valuable in j the bulk than her exports to parts ; ! of the Empire. In 1923 the Empire took 1;4.j per cent of the value of goods classified as "articles mainly manufactured." Proportionately to population, I however, the Dominions arc much the j more valuable customers. In a book on _ J Empire trade that has just been issued, ( called "Sheltered Markets," the Mr. F. L. McDougall, points out that in 1024 the per capita purchases of British goods by the United States amounted to ten shillings, whereas in Canada, to which American manufacturers have I such easy geographical access, the I people bought at the rate of £3 •}/. If Canada had bought at the American rate , the loss to Britain would have been . j £24,000,000. Many British trades are • fully aware of the advantage conferred upon their industries I,y Canadian projference, says the author. The Welsh ■ I tin-plate industry has stated that the ; j preference it receives just enables it to :hbld the Canadian market against Ameri- ! can competition. Mr. McDnugall prejsents a mass of similar figures, showhi"----j that Dominion preference is of great i j benefit to Britain, and that Dominion j j markets, per head, are worth far more j J than foreign one*. Australia and New J I Zealand, he says, provided Britain in 192 J ■ with a more important market than ail jtlie Scandinavian countries and Holland, jor the whole of Central and South ! America. The "Westminster' statement . that "all the Dominions are taxing I British manufacturers by their high j tariffs, and there is no indication that j they ever intend to do otherwise," should be qualified by this great fact of preference, the practical importance of which I lias not been grasped by Free Traders. I It is true, as the "Daily News" Bays, ; that the English buyer will buy the ! cheapest goods, irrespective of origin, and colonials should not blame a housewife who has the smallest or no margin to work upon for declining to be ewayed , by sentiment. The sentiment of Empire lor Commonwealth does, however, count for something, and at least there is no

harm in urging the British consumer to keep the oversea producer in mind and to prefer his goods when they can be got at about the same price as foreign stuff. Something will be gained with reasonably intelligent English men and women if they are instructed in the simple fact that the people of the Dominions are individually the best customers for British goods, and that therefore every encouragement given to Dominion production reacts favourably on British trade. The whole question is allied to the problem of developing the empty spaces in the Dominions, so that they will supply more of Britain's needs, and in turn their populations will consume more of Britain's output.