FAIR SHARE URGED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 237, 6 October 1945, Page 7

FAIR SHARE URGED

TRADE BY BRITAIN

MARKETS IN DOMINION

, Having completed a tour of New Zealand, Mr. W. G. Wrigley, of the Electric Construction Company, Limited, of Wolverhampton, who arrived in the Dominion last July on a mission to investigate the possibilities of trade with Britain, said, in an interview to-day, that he was confirmed in his opinion that Britain could be given a reasonable amount of trade. He thought it was good for New Zealand to foster its own manufactures where they were an economic proposition, but he considered that to foster industries which were uneconomical because of the necessity of importing raw materials was only taking trade away unnecessarily from England.

There were possibilities of great industrial progress in New Zealand, said Mr. Wrigley. In the North Island there was a little shortage of electric power, but this should be rectified within a few years. It was to the good of the country that it should develop its manufacturing resources, but he thought it would be a bad thing if Britain was to be completely prevented from competing in New Zealand. For one thing, he said, such exclusion of British manufactures restricted the choice of goods.

Primacy Producing Country New Zealand, Mr. Wrigley pointed out, was a primary producing country, whereas England for many years now had been engaged in the manufacture of machinery and other goods. England was rapidly changing over from wartime to peacetime production, and it would be a bad thing for all concerned if she was not allowed access to Dominion and colonial markets to sell her manufactures in order to pay for the produce which she imported from the Dominions- and the colonies. He found during his tour of New Zealand that there was a constant inquiry for British goods, and, for that reason, he considered there was ample opportunity for the importation of goods from Britain without interfering with manufactures which could be carried out economically in New Zealand. As far as any overseas trade at all was concerned, he thought that, in view of the present situation in regard to the dollar, New Zealand must give a fair share of it to Britain.

Mr. Wrigley said his visit had been very useful in bringing him into contact with engineers in different parts of the country. These engineers, he said, had been very obliging and had helped him considerably. He found that they were most favourably disposed towards British manufacturers and were willing to do as much as they could to buy British goods. Mr. Wrigley added that he was impressed by the friendly spirit which existed among rival firms in New Zealand.

After a similar tour of Australia, for which he will leave New Zealand shortly, Mr. Wrigley will return to England.