The Press Tuesday, August 19, 1930. Trade with Canada.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20010, 19 August 1930, Page 10

The Press Tuesday, August 19, 1930. Trade with Canada.

When the Prime Minister says, as he said on Saturday, that New Zealand would lose heavily if it lost its Canadian market for butter, he says what is obviously true; and it is equally obvious that the proposed increase in the Canadian tariff, from one 1 CCQ t to four cents a pound, which will become effective in October, is certain at the very least to make that market difficult to hold. It is therefore good news that Mr Forbes is going to take the Comptroller of Customs with him, as far as Canada, and to discuss trade relations and arrangements with the Canadian Government. Although Mr Bennett appears to have won the General Election partly by promising to defend the Canadian dairy farmers against their New Zealand competitors, it is not a false view and not even a very cynical view of the political situation to say that the Prime Minister, with a secure majority, may hold less violent and less uncompromising opinions than the Leader of the Opposition, fighting a sharp campaign. To obtain concessions may not be nearly as hard as electioneering speeches and methods suggested; but it will certainly be easier to obtain them, and to obtain the maximum, by personal conference than by the exchange of cables and letters. It is also true that Mr Forbes will not take up the argument without advantages, among which is that of occasion. Both he and Mr Bennett will be attending an Imperial Conference at which the promotion of trade within the Empire will take first place among the subjects of economic interest. It will be odd if it does not occur to Mr Bennett that there is much to be said for appearing there as a statesman who has done something to facilitate trade between the two Dominions, rather than as one who has insisted on building a barrier threatened by his opponent; while the annoyance of the dairy farmer could probably be left for time and new prosperity to cool, or might, if necessary, be appeased by some immediate measure. But Mr Forbes has also the inter-Dominion trade figures to help him- They show that New' Zealand is a heavier buyer than seller, and that her buying consists very largely of goods on which Canada enjoys a preference. The Prime Minister was dearly thinking of this when he said on Saturday that he " did not want to M be put into the position of having to * adopt retaliatory measures." Threats of retaliation, however, will do little good. What is much more likely to succeed is the suggestion that preference to goods of proved Canadian origin may be extended—whether by lightening the duty on them or by raising it against their foreign competitors is a separate question. The Canadian Government will not be disinclined to listen to representations which promise Canada, on terms, improved opportunities in New Zealand; bnt of course those representations cannot be made safely unless they are made with the utmost care.