THE ISLAND TRADE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1307, 9 December 1911, Page 9

THE ISLAND TRADE.

POSITION OF NEW ZEALAN&, One of the oldest of the Island' traders is Captain lioss, who has been encaged in that occupation for 31 years;' his headquarters being at Auckland.,' Ho is as well qualified, therefore, as any man in Australasia to talk on the subject. Asked in Sydney why New Zealand had allowed sti much of the trade to slip away, Captain ]!oss said (hat it mi|;ht be thai. Auckland merchants did not set so high a value on it as the people in Sydney. Very few sent travellers to tho islands; in fact, there was onh- one softwoods house in Auckland that;" mado any etlurt to retain and increase) trade. Auckland merchants seemed to be doing verv well, and, as a rule, did not look for custom beyond (heir own province, which was making great strides. Besides, (he soilgoods houses, except in one case, did not keep material suitable for tho islands in stock. Tho spheres of island trado were inoro defined than they used to bo. Now Zealauders bad dropped out of the trado of certain groups-the Marshalls and Gilberts, for example—leaving them to their rivals, and the Sydney merchants had dropped out of bthcrs, such as Nino, with which, at. one time they did almost half .ho trade, and tho outlying islands of longa, oft tho steamers' track. Tonga itself ho regarded as neutral ground. New Zealand did.most of tin- ~■

I visions and Sydney in soft goods. As'far as tho islands within New Zealand's sphere were concerned, he considered that the Dominion was holding her own. At one timo thcro wero between 30 and 10 schooners trading from Auckland to tho islands, hut thero woro only two or three now. But it did not follow on account of (hat fact that the trade had diminished, because it had to bo recollected that (ho cargoes that used to bo earned by tho sailing craft woro nowtaken by a frequent corvico of big steamers instead.

byuWs trado with tho islands ■ had fa. creased m greater proportion than New /eaand.s, because land was obtainable in the islands within Sydney's sphere--W Cumca. tho Solomons, tho New Hebrides, and pthers-and consequently much more development was going on. And what was still more important, labour was available. That was not tho caso with loiiga and the islands of tho Ea**. ern Paeihc. In Tonga for instance, W could not bo bought by Europeans for planting purposes. All tho Tongans would do was to lease business sites to Euro peans. Even if land were to be got, labour could not, as tho Tongaus had a rooted objection to hard work, tayi had stopped tas importation, of Jabonj from. Jiiaa. i