INDIAN OFFICIAL

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 199, 24 August 1942, Page 4

INDIAN OFFICIAL

VISIT TO DOMINION POSSIBILITIES OF TRADE To contact the Government and business community of New Zealand, with a view to increasing trade with India, Mr. Ramji Ram Saksena, Indian Government Trade Commissioner to Australia and New Zealand, is paying his first visit to the Dominion.

At present, said Mr. Saksena, there were difficulties in the way of trade, due not to reluctance of buyers on either side, but to the necessity of war needs being served first and to lack of shipping space. He wished to see what could best be done under these conditions.

In post-war years India could take very large quantities of wool, and could easily supply New Zealand's entire requirements of cotton textiles. The cotton output had been doubled in India since war broke out, but it was "still insufficient to cope with the added tasks of clothing the armies of Russia and China. Materials were still being sent to China, though the routes available did not allow of any great quantities being sent. It was hoped that communications would be improved in the near future.

There had been great expansion of trade with Australia, India taking wool, dairy products, tallow, caned foods, and more recently, machinery from the rapidly-developing Australian implement and tool industries.

Japan's Industrial Strength

Mr. Saksena had some interesting comments to make about the industrial strength of Japan, having lived there for four years before the outbreak of war. He warned against any idea that the Japanese war effort might break down because of internal economic conditions.

"The majority of Japanese." he said, "have never known ordinary comforts, and do not think in terms of luxuries. Therefore, the hardships which the war will impose on them can be supported without loss of efficiency for a long time."

Referring to Japan's preparations for war, Mr. Saksena said that in 1940 the Japanese Government was closing down industrial plants engaged on civil production, and converting them to materials of war.

The United Nations, he said, had a hard fight ahead of them and needed to put everything into it to •win. Mr. Saksena added that he hoped to visit the Dominion again for a longer period in the near future. He left last evening for Wellington, and will return to Auckland on Friday.