TRADE WAR.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1879, 13 October 1913, Page 7

TRADE WAR.

AMERICAN COMPETITION.

WITH BRITISH GOODS.

In the courso of hia annual report to hoadquarters Mr. W. G. Wickham, British Board of Trado Commissioner for Now Zealand, says;—

" Tlio only vory sorious competition in imports into New Zealand comes from tho United States, and it may perhaps be worth while to consider a few general points in this connection. The direct mail sorvico to Vancouver and San Francisco every fortnight supplemontß tho direct cargo eervico of tlio White Star and other lines and sailing ships. It enables United States firms to send representatives hero in much less time and at much smaller cost than British

firms. Tho United States has certain important trado lines which cannot very well bo procured elsewhere, such as oil, lumber, wood-ware, paper, fish ana fruit. She adds to these motor-cars, agricultural implomdnts, typewriters and other oflico equipment, steel and certain implements and' tools. i There is only ono drawback to _ sonding those goods to Now Zeaknd', viz., the difficulty of finding roturri freights. "It must .be remembered also that tho route across America is becoming more and moro a highway to Europe. Firms going home to got agencies are captured on tho way across and are impressed by the scale of manufacture, the hustle, and the big talk, and arrive home with' their mouths full and littlo appetite left. New Zealand has not yet. learnt to hustle, but people are full of tie notion-that they do hustle, and are very up-to-date (as they are in many ways), f\Tid even though thoy. may not admit their partiality for things American thoy have at least much admiration for the Ujiited States manufacturer, who is thought to he so modern and not old yet to have heeomo sleepy and self-satisfied. In many lines; goods designed in the United States to suit the homo market, and turned out comparatively cheaply owing to the size of that market, have been _ found very suitable for tho not dissimilar conditions hero, and as a consequence tho idea has spread widoly that United States manufacturers aro always ready to make what customers want. As a matter of fact, t/ho chief characteristic of United States manufacture is the huge scale of production; in the United Kingdom tho chief characteristic is that tliero is room everywhere for the very small maker working on his own account. It stands to' reason, thereforo, that adaptibility to the particular whims of a very small market is less likely to bo found in America than elsewhere, but tho conviction to tho contrary dies hard. A United States wallpaper manufacturer who recently arrived in New Zealand laughed n,t the idea of altering his width to suit local taste on the ground that it would mean erecting a new factory. "United States, trade with New Zealand has also _ been helped by tho tariff preference given by the New Zealand Government to Canadian goods, which is equal to that given to British goods. This has encouraged the supply of goods from Canada, and as Canadian firms, even whon not branches of United States houses or dominated by United States capital adopt tho United States system of manufacture — aiming at lightness and cheapness, and entailing a lack of durability—the footing which Canadian manufacturers have been able to got in New Zealand has broken down the prejudice against tho United States system of manufacture (as contrasted with the higher finish and greater durability of British goods). Wero the preferential duties to bo cancelled. the shipments now coming from Canada would /•■probably oome direct from parent works in tho United Statos.