TRADE WITH THE FAR EAST.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 11960, 12 August 1904, Page 3

TRADE WITH THE FAR EAST.

' " ' IMPRESSIONS, j \ * / VONEDIN, • Mr W. McCallum, npreaentmg'&e.punv fcdin firm of *hd 'Stevenson,'haa just come back from a «x months' tour vx Chin*, Japan, and India. * He-wentVitb 1 instructions to look for a market lor ha firm's products, particularly their tinned I goods. He reports thai there as not much ito be done in that hne with Japan. "To begin with, the European population » not a big one, and it is only amongst those persons that customers an to be sought. The colonies are not in treaty iHt<h Japan, but Owe* Britain is. That means that the bulk of our good* are •subjected to much heavier duty than those arriving from England and America. The duty on condensed milk, for instance, is about four times greater on the. New Zealand article than on milk Rent from American or British port*.;> : •Aβ , to>fodder and; farm produce,' each ac [wheat, bran. ', oatei, pressed fodder and potatoes, Australia has been able to supply Japan:. bountifully this year, owing -to the large crops,, bub the uncertainty of -the supply , from Australia, from year to year, ha» taught the Japanese to look elsewhere for, what.they want in thoeo lines. This ought to ba New iiealand'e opportunity/ and might >be, if reasonable shipping facilities existed. Aβ a fact, however, anything ' shipped * from has to go to Australia, and be transhipped, and that means a. handicap of from 17e 6d to 20s periton. a heavy drawback. Under ordinary circumstances Australian produce is cheaper than New Zealand. 'IButter,'for-instance, is about 10d in New Zealand, whereas if* can bo shipped for 9d in Australia, and extra freight ie the last etraw that breaks the camel't) bock. Mr - Graham Gow / soon, '. found that , Japan was no market' for/ New ; Zealand under existing conditions.. Moreover,:: the operation of the Aeiatics Restriction Act is a very' aore point; witJi the Japanese, a»d, even Government officials, whom one would think above introducing sentiment into business, do not forget to let visiting New Zealanders undemtarid that they mean to retaliate until the restrictionv. is removed. They tell you plainly that the import duty ie to remain, and that if, they can do businwe with any .other country they will. In China things arei; eornewhat different. The CSuneee do not seem to put «o much etaess on their exclusion from the colonke, and if Ne%y;. Zealand can compete commercially with England there is no reason/why, good business ehoedd not Wv'T«OTgn't ; ;Bp'-.with;''-jarte'';Ol China, principally Hongkong * and Shanghai, always supposing the shipping: compauka will give the colony a . chance in the mutter of. freights./ ' ' ■/../ Mr McCallum landed in Tolno/three wwkVafter the war broke out,fand>he testified to the enthuriaem of tHe Japanese and the irritation of,the coopfd-up/war correspondents. Buthemet with*no strange experiences.oir; adventures,and:wa»; only once detained, the r Japanese;'pol«*/ ing'■•. himfjn • uiitU'fthey",; satiefied them«lvee tliat -. Kis letter of- introduction 4o a Vladivostok' firm ,wae as innocent :->b it seemed to be:•.. It;i»/on VjuestaohaFof trade that ; Mr McCaUunVs: is of and he'- is emphataoVon Wtwo. points, nameljy that'tne Japanese vtake;de;- :- light: in trying^ioA"best "~Jite>~ foreigner, and that : Japan »■■: 'a poor market for New Zealand. ■i^/i>ry r - S&t