BUYING CHEAPEST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 136, 12 June 1933, Page 7

BUYING CHEAPEST.

ENGLISH PEOPLE. LITTLE EMPIRE PREFERENCE. VISITOR'S IMPRESSION. "We hear a lot about Empire preference, but the spirit is practically nonexistent in 'England. The public will buy in the cheapest market, and earo not a jot where the goodis come from." These Statements were made by Col. J. E. Christoe, who arrived by tlio Niagara this morning after spending some time in the United States, England and. the Continent, investigating market conditions for the Queensland Pine Plywood Export Association. Col. Christoe stated that Queensland exported about 1.000,000 square feet of plywood to the United Kingdom, and he hoped that this would bo increased to 10,000,000 square feet, as the total consumption at.Home was roughly about 350,000,000 square feet per annum. It was used as a veneer for furniture, ceilings, railway carriages, buses, etc. Russian competition was very severe, "said Col. Christoe. Last year the Soviet had. sent 200,000,000 square feet to Great Britain. Before the 80 per cent embargo was imposed on Russian goods this year, Russia had already sent 50,000,000 square feet of plywood to England, and when lie left the shipments were still at the docks. Sweden and Finland and most other countries, he said, were unable to compete with Russia. America had had twelve plywood factories, but most of them were now closed down, and those that were working were selling at a loss, and were kept going merely to retain men in employment. Colonel Christoe said he could not understand the attitude of the British public. He noticed in stores New Zealand and Danish butter exhibited side by • sido, the foreign producc being marked at a higher price, and being sold much more readily than the products of New Zealand or Australia. He had made inquiries as to the reason, and was informed by shopkeepers that the mothers and fathers of customers had always been accustomcd to Danish! "Empire preference," he observed, "does not matter when people go into a shop to buy," "The English dairy farmer cannot pay his way," continued Colonel Christoe, "and at the same time Danish butter and bacon, with a low duty, is coming in in huge quantities all the time. It is literally being dumped on the market."