EMPIRE TRADE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18927, 16 February 1927, Page 8

EMPIRE TRADE.

BRITAIN RECOVERING. BETTER TIMES AHEAD FOR NEW ZEALAND. ITHB PRESS SptcUl Service.] WELLINGTON, February 10. Empire trade was the subject matter of tho Prime Minister's speech at a welcome tendered to him by the Commercial Travellers' Association to-day. The Prime Minister, who was accompanied by Mr Frank Thomson, private secretary, had lunch with the members, and afterwards addressed them in the reading-room. The president of the Association. Mr T. E. James, in tendering a hearty welcome to the guests, mentioned that Mr Coatc* was tho patron of the Warehousemen's Association, and as a body of commercial men they congratulated him and also Mr Thomson on the excellent work they had done for New Zealand at the Imperial Conference. But tho work performed after that conference, in travelling around Groat Britain to ascertain the requirements of tho manufacturing industries, and to what extent the Dominion could furnish the necessary raw materials, with the object of further advancing tho trade interests of both countries, redounded to the credit of New Zealand's able representatives, and on bohalf of the commercial men of tho City and district he assured Mr Coates that those efforts had their unswerving support.

Other Countries' Difficulties. Referring to the degression in trade, the Prime Minister said that other countries were passing through the same period of difficulty. He had feathered the impression in America that the primary industries in the United States were "well up against it—hard," and it was only the reflex of a succession of inflated years. In other words, there had been overcapitalisation on the part of the farmer, and many of the manufacturers. No Fears for Future. The Prime Minister again deprecated any feeling of pessimism in regard to the future of the Dominion, of England, or of the Empire. "Reorganisation of industry is coing on in the Old Land," he said. "They ore overcoming the effects of the certain amount of industrial strife. There is, in fact, a determination to work, and it all leads me to the conclusion that the future can be faced with a firm confidence, and that this Dominion in particular has nothing to fear, provided that all of us carry our weight. If we do that, our people need have no fear but that the future will hold for them very much better times than recently. Better times in Great Britain, and an increased purchasing power on the' part of the masses of the people., will mean an extraordinary development of out output of produce, and a greatly m» creased trade with the Mofter Country. I do not suggest there wfll be a trade boom, but ai> present tome of the British shipbuilding yards have foujr years' work in front of them, as hard as they can go; Others have two years' work, and others have 12 months' work, so that in that respect all that is neoes? sarv is to get on with it. Any surgestion made to the Canadian Government to improve the trade relationships between the countries was nt once responded to, and the authorities showed a readiness to confer on the subject. Canada. "New Zealand apples, - butter, meat, and hemp could be exported into Canada without affecting the production of that country, and trade in that connexion could be greatly fostered. Tho Government of New Zealand could and would assist the business men m this direction, because, after all, trade was built up by the business section of the community and not by a Government." . „ Later on he hoped to further pursue thp subject in order to ascertain to what extent they could go in the direction indicated. The same remarks applied to trade with other northern countries. . ~ . . Mr Frank Thomson, in a brief speech thanking the commercial travellers for their kind welcome, said that his chief, the Prime Minister, had performed most valuable work overseas, apart from his official representation of the Dominion, in making New Zealand and its products known in every place he had visited. ... ... ... The gathering terminated with tnree cheers for the guests.