SUPPORT BRITAIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 137, 11 June 1926, Page 10

SUPPORT BRITAIN.

(To the Editor, i

Sir, —"A Patriot" in last night's "Star," in his advocacy of "Buy British goods," will certainly warrant and re- '■ ueivo the moral support, at least, of every right thinking Britisher. In his zeal, however, to mnke out as necessitous a case as possible, he has most palpably overlooked the fact that "Fair play is bonnie play." Why select Germany as the "enfant terrible" typifying the "tremendous endeavour of " the foreigner to steal the Empire markets," when it is patent to all with any knowledge of present Continental trading conditions that, far from being formidable, German exports are tlio least dangerous, from Britain's point of view, of the Continental quartet comprising Czecho-Slovakia, Belgium, and France as the other three members? Depreciated currency is, of course, directly responsible for very largely increased imports from two of the last-named, and is a factor seriously handicapping the export efforts of their bigger neighbour. With stabilised paper currency, but with an acute shortness of ready cash to meet the national wages bill, the German manufacturer to-day is not in the "happy" or rather "unhappy" position of being able to sell tenpenny pocket-knives for a fifth of their value, and, as a matter of fact, German imports to-day in this country are clearer, comparatively with competitive lines, than ever previously experienced. In endeavouring to assist the Mother Country, do not let the old wolf cry of "Germany!" mask the silent but effective efforts of her far more dangerous neighbours working under tho semiofficial approval of post-war Allied sentiment. Last, but by no means least, glutted with gold, bereft of all sentiment, the most implacable and insistent creditor this world has ever witnessed. Industrial America to-day stands foremost as Britain's most formidable rival for British Empire trade. Even "A Patriot" must agree with mc that twopenny pocket-knives are small beer compared with three hundred pound cars, quite apart from the food products of U.S.A., with which this country is completely flooded. As a customer in kind for Dominion products, even Germany, .is a constant and unlimited purchaser of our wool, hides, casein, kauri gum, etc.. and latterly of our minerals, offers a quid pro quo notably lacking in our trading accounts with neighbours across the Pacific.—l am, etc., PATRIOTISM WITH COMMON SENSE.