The Press THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1959. Chambers of Commerce

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28865, 9 April 1959, Page 14

The Press THURSDAY, APRIL 9, 1959. Chambers of Commerce

Because trade is an everyday affair, in some way touching almost every person, its part in modern civilisation is taken for granted. The very efficiency of commerce and its instruments has taken away the romance of less sophisticated days. Tea from Ceylon, tobacco from Virginia, steel from Sheffield are now matters of course. Neither is there any particular pride in rugs from Kaiapoi or the prestige of New Zealand lamb on English dinner tables. The romance has gone, replaced by a clearer realisation that the prime reason for national and international relations is the exchange of goods and services. This is a great civilising influence, for we cannot do business at all without some peaceful association, or do business successfully without mutual trust. The representatives of this friendly commerce therefore deserve a respect that they are not always accorded—that perhaps they do not always accord themselves. In their own way they are all ambassadors and public relations practitioners.

The annual conference of the New Zealand Associated Chambers of Commerce, opening in Christchurch today, will consider primarily what members consider to be their own interests; but they will achieve little unless they serve also the whole community depending on their commercial ability. They are the heirs to the proud tradition of the merchant venturers who opened the way to material plenty. Their organisation is a ‘.relatively new one, replacing the old guilds and associations that served well enough in a less complicated society. Over the last two centuries the need for a common meeting ground -for men of business has been met by the growth of the chamber of commerce movement. Chambers have been able to supply their members quickly -and economically with a mass of essential information and advice on the increasing official regulation of trade, on trading prospects, on new developments and 1 techniques, and on a host of -other matters. Without this service business would have been

markedly less efficient. Their second function, and the one: chiefly served by the annual! conference, is to represent the i business community in its rela-i tions with the State and other! authorities and with the public in the broadest sense. It is part of this function to watch closely statutes and regulations that may impair the ability of commerce to satisfy its customers In this, chambers have, in directly, and sometimes directly, safeguarded many of the civic freedoms prized by all citizens and not only by traders. It is appropriate that this year’s New Zealand conference should be held in Christchurch during the centennial year of the Canterbury Chamber. The Canterbury Chamber is more than a respected pioneer among the institutions of this province It is one of the oldest chambers of commerce in the Englishspeaking world. The first British chambers were established in 1763 in the American colonies of New" York and New Jersey. Recognition of their usefulness spread only slowly in the United Kingdom; and the chamber in Sheffield, for instance, the ninth in a city of any size, was founded only in 1857. The London Chamber was founded in 1881; and the Canterbury Chamber was a mature organisation before the Association of Chambers of Commerce of the United Kingdom was formed. The early establishment of the Canterbury Chamber is another example of the extraordinary vigour of the infant settlement round Christchurch. In the intervening 100 years the chamber has served its own members and the province well, often giving a progressive lead to the rest of the Dominion. One example of its wide-ranging usefulness is the publication of the stimulating and informative economic and farming bulletins, which have become national institutions. As the modern State becomes more complex the scope for the chamber is growing; and it will have ample opportunity in the next 100 years to show the watchfulness, ' vision, and independent thought it has demonstrated in an honourable history.