TRADE IN THE PACIFIC.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 146, 14 March 1908, Page 5

TRADE IN THE PACIFIC.

' , AUSTRALIAN PREFERENCE. W TELEGRAPH -PREfeS.ASSOCIATION —COPYItIGHT ( ' Melbourne, March .13. • ■ The Federal Government'int-ends to submit a proposal for' a preference treaty with the , : New Hobridcs and other Pacific islands.

EFFECT OF AUSTRALIAN TARIFF. ' . /reo market,which, the Pacifio Islands enjoyed in New-South Wales came to a close f" 1 " Beven. vears ;agoayith Federation, and the Dritjsh islanders attribute much-of. their backwardness, and the .I'rench and German PWffeMiToness.Vto the,effects ,of: the.' Federal • tarilr. rr^ 1 ? /Thurn, Governor of ITiji and • ■ - . *commissioner for,- the Western Pacific; describinp the..effect,;of ithe;Australian tariff % % not; take 'PapuaGuinea) .'into consideration, for ... as that; to Australia, it will doubtless ,be -looked after 'by/Australia' • The Jpriusn bolompn have recently, ereatlv .developed, in ~of ' the- 'Australian : tariff, f! ! e '.isiandg:-seem little 'harmed' by wS, m ■' bu V ; l t is-: precisely in- the New ' tint'fhli' Itpa.sen.so1 tp a . sen . so $ e nearest to Australia, ... .that,.-, the/effect of this tariff, is obvious to ; th o.Place, and, as shown i ,^ 0SI dent Commissioner, has ..been dis- : astrous. to , tho_. British' settler, especially' in ■. comparison. to the'' greater; prosperity of. the under ■ more liberal' conditions ■■' > French New Caledonia ' • . iariff was frani«3din accoidancc . -with the protective policy of the Government, with 1 '■ .vpf'f»ference...t6.;ani of'thc Pacific islands : , except that copra,- one of the chief and most .. ; promising .of .these, 'exports, • was and is. admit- _ ted.tp the.Commonwealthfree of, duty. Buf ■ littlecopra, is as yet produced - in .the. N6w; : Hebrides •; great y. -differing in this respect from the'.Bntish Solomon Islands, and • • the l .: freedom,, from Australian duty', of this -article is a.vyct little if any alleviation of the' exceptionally bad ; position of the New Hebrides ' think ;I vam -right .in saying that the prim ? cipal products •of tho New-Hebrides which •'have-been affected by the .Commonwealth tariff ; aro .maize ,and coffee.; .For, the moment the most important .product,of British settlors in • the Netf. Hebrides' is ! m'aize,. which has been adopted as. a catch crop to tide over the time ■ till cocoanuts can bo planted arid come into bearing. Mr. Deakin recognises that tlio Australian ■ duty has-had a retarding influence on ; the expansion , of-maize cultivation in tlie New . Hebrides.",. " ; . '' j-. , ••fr. Doakin has . replied in considerable detail with; the-object of refuting the High Commissioner's facts and arguments. He stated that the, most marked ' advance- of French interests in ;tho "Now Hebrides was -from 1800 to 1900, and "during the whole of that time, the,markets of New South-Wales, ■ the Australian colony which alone traded with ' the New Hebrides, were- open to all products '■ of the group,-no duties whatover being imposed on.coffee, maize, or copra." Mr. Deakin went oii to explain his, difficulties in trying to make tariff : concessions to - the-islands. • Maize-grow-ing ill Australia, ho said,' was ■an .important industry, which it was desired to preserve frpm. unfair competition from abroad, and to .'■ reduce" these' duties would be to vary Australia's fixed, Again; Australian policy was to encourage white labour in the Commonwealth, and to prohibit the introduction of coloured labourers, and to freely admit the pi'oducts of the coloured labourer, in tho New Hebrides would bo in contravention of. the . principle of that s part of Australia's fixed policy. ,Nevertheless, notwithstanding tho inconsistencies involved, somo' concessions of "a ; special nature for the relief of British sottlers in the group were in contemplation.