SHUT THE DOOR?

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2579, 29 September 1915, Page 16

SHUT THE DOOR?

TRADE WITH GERMANY AFTER , THE WAR ABSOLUTE PROHIBITION URGED ' ? What is to'ibe the attitude.of, tliii' Do- . minionv'ibowards imports from .Germany .^teritli^-wiir?::The New Zealand Federate vExeciit-ivo of Chambers ;of_Cpmmerc|;:3)'aS';suggested tiie imposition of a Surtax io;'Stop as far:'as possible -all importeifrOm present knemy countries. The • matter! was-discussed:;,at a public ineet- , ing. -iindpiv.tke auspices, of, the Wangamu Gharabeiv .of Commerce,; . and the''views'put iorward were so iu.iereitiiig that wo rcpi'int them in full: — Mr.'-'L- E. Bennett, vice-president of tho Chamber, .-- said that' ' that. night rightVihrbugno-ut. this .'- Dominion, the : Chambers of,. Commerce of this country ,iyere.' ; 'placiug'-beforei'the, people for consideration 'a matter of the greatest importance to our people, and to the:. Brit-' , isli'" 2Siipiro;-?-'At of the: : great war still in operation—a war that wo all trust will have an early and satisfactory termination—we will- be faced .wit-h' another, war —a great. .trade. war with.Germany. We.as .Britisliers, benefiting as we do'under the British from a. freedom in citizenship second to ijono in the world, will have duties to perform:. Such benefits, ini the present vai, call for'riatmiiai;- responsibilities,. jjnd -in no less degree 1 will the .trade war call for .the co-operation of the citizens : ■of tho; Empire; We.are all too,well awaro: of .'the tremendous arid, careful/ prepara- ': iioh arid scheming of "our enemy in-tho present war, but-we will .also, have to recognise that similar preparations will.be /met with in the coming trade war. The spy system operating among \; British commerce has been proved on a very extensive scale, the dumping system of placing large excess supplies over'thoso required for normal demand at low rates in foreign "countries to. make way for future trade will be in evidence,- while 'the subsidised freights as carried out so 'successfully in German commerce in the past will again aid the keen competition that will have: to Jie faced in Gerinaiiy's .struggle to'-regaiii'at least a, -proportion of her lost trade. We as men of commerce will, be of one mind in. oiir 'desire' to .do; our utmost as individuals ■and units in the 'Empire to carry into •effect , any acceptable; scheme likely .to ' 'consolidate British trade and extend its inter-Empire application, and it was 'their business that night, to., consider (ways'and means and to-act along "the ■lines of tlie best thought in passing resolutions of - recommendation on this , {important matter. In the proposed re-; 'solution:from tho N. 25. Federated Executive of Chambers of Commerce, which [read as follows: "That tliis meeting urges on the Government that from the 'termination of the war all imports from ipresent enemy countries shall be subject to a- surtax, in order to stop as far /■as' possible imports from such enemy -countries, and, further that, "preforen--.tial trade shall obtain within the Empire, with , modified preference.'to our Allies," they found the two ideas as inlTeady ' freely referred 'to .by public jiiien of the world and also the Press, in the respective countries—the two ideas ■of surtax and preference. Consider for Va, minute what are the underlying 1110- : tives in these suggestions. We. find that •there are two,, the first being to in. a -measure penalise Germany, in so far as •it, has proved that the inter-trade relations with that country have proved -beyond a doubt that .'they'were not Wholly mutually beneficial, as Germany had to an extent used such commerce to build up her powerful fighting machine of'to-day. The second nnderly;iti^idea:is'li!iiaf v oft'omsblidating.ahd ex--tending the trade /of the British Empire. .••'..'

-It is then-the duty of-the Chambers /.to seo that in any proposod legislation 'the spirit, of these''underlying, ideas'is • given effect :to.. Ihey.-. were, however, faced immediately: with'. the position of modem commerce'-.resulting as : it does' ih tho interdependance of nations. They knew now that it is no further a Wax (jffica secret that the position of Bri.tain in the early history of the war, regarding ' the shortage of munitions, i'as due to.this interdependance: of nations. The T.N.T. trouble as it is now known throughout the''world.wa-s caus- ; ed by the shortage of that'chemical Tri-iiitro-toluene, tho - by-product in tlio manufacture of high, explosive shells. ' Prior to the war-Germany was tho main area- of-supply ! or'this article, and this fact caused , a, difficulty that;' has ' only recently, been surmounted. We aro : forced/to recognise tho fact that somo essentials; must be imported,from enemy countries, certain* chemicals, certain, dis.ooveries and inventions'that aro of tho greatest urgency, in combatting disease and others that aro necessary to manufacture aiul product preparation. Wo 'iannot overlook this fact or health and industry must suffer. The Government inay nbt object to.:tiio kloa,of surtax as •it means-the incrikisofof revenue, but it; i? the dufcy of tho men of of this Dominion to use-, their utmost- endeavour to deal, with the question on the, very best-basis. If a -50 per cent, or 100 per cent, surtax is put on theso necessities, wliat will bo the position? Germany will get the same f.o.b. price a& Hamburg in apy case, it will not affect her, hut t-lio' individual in this Dominion who directly or indirectly has to jise those .essential imports'will'be pen- -. rtlisctl by such 'surtax.- ' This --would be quite''foreign- to" the spirit or intention of.those imposing the surtax. Further, if they wero to hurriedly as a. Dominion put up the high walls of surtax against tlio, enemy.. trade nevmanently it, woul-I. have a direct effect on the British f.o.b. prices arid mean a rise, in prime, cost. As an instance of this ho said ho had, only to mention the faot that.prior to Ihowar. an English glass wei'o. supplying, a certain rolled - 'glass-. at,.&l. .per foot. "Owing to Ger'l'nany ..putting an equal articlo on tho Market, at 3.jd. per foot, the British 'firm re.iuced their, price" to 3Jd. and Continued'to push for business at'that irate, hiit immediately tho war period .caiuc upon-us tho Gorman.trade was 'debarred this English glass was advanced to tho Gtl. again. Then again, it would lead to tho paying of a Bri- . .tish purchasing commission of German ■; goods re-exported - to this Dominion through England, instead of tho saving on direct trade. The cost of living is immediately affected, the wage value of the worker is discounted. It yas their dut.v to see that any arrangement made is not over-detrimen-tal to the worker. The hare living wago of tho norker is already being seriously discounted by the war markets. Tho people 'of ;this Dominion aro the Agents of production, the Dominion is a producing country, and the people of the country—tho agents of production ij-can only be remunerated out of industry product, or its value in exchange. - It is, therefore, vital that lccal, individual patriotic .sacrifice should not mean individual gain to British commercial men. . They must take their sacrifices jointly, they must bo mutual in the interests of tho Empire. They had seen the effect of the high tariff wall in America. What effect has it liad -thoroP Tlio cost of living increased in a marked manner, so that thoso gentlemen who have been in that country know from experienco as he did that : ono has to pay Hie price for commodities connc-ctcd with dailjv needs ■ there. The value of the spending power of the .dollar is discounted; it appeariinwat about tho value of 2s. 9d. or 3s. ;rato';than'its face value of-ls. : 2d. They would 'doubtless then find it essential that any equitable scheme must bo based from' an. Empire standpoint* : s}i§£

. had to consider the possibility of prohibiting German exports, excepting essentials, whic j h should r.ot be unduly taxed. They were faced witli tile fact that Britain" is practically a Free-trade country with an inter-trade of roughly . ;500 ; million's-, annually : with; Romany :.under normal , conditions, much-of . the •goods purchased being/essential to Englnnd as a great manufacturing country. They also have Wtake-into consideration the possibility _of German trade coming through Allied countries. What guarantee have they that Garman manufactured goods . (branded "made in Kri'glimd" and "made in Sheffield/' etc.),- .as .have appeared under peace conditions, will not. bo exported to our lands through the Allied countries'? In the absence., of-the fullest facte., and the impossibility of forecasting the exact conditions', as. ruling at the declaration of peace,' they can at present only .deal m the.abstract, and ; with-.that .end in view, -he lwd'the pleasureyol', 'moving. a motion •. that., ho had given some thought; and which lie thought would give an expression of the minds l of the commercial men ..of this town; ho had -lioreforo much pleasure in.- moving the following .mo-' ition:" 'That'this meeting urges tho Government to make temporary -provision so that from .the termination of the War. the operation of the present Trading With the Enemy AcLcpntimie,. and.-that 'during 'such period of continuance of this Act the Government use tho -utmost endeavour in urging the Imperial, authorities to promptly arrange that an Imperial Conference, v fully representative' of the Empire," ' decide the best 1 methods of consolidating and extending Empire trade, with provisional preference ;;.to .our Allies, .so to as far as -possible; .prevent . trading with present enemy .countries." .. , . .. . Mr. G. Caiman seconded the motion. •:Hg saidi'that Mr. Bassett had dealt very ■ably witli ; tlio question, which was' 'a •very -wide one, and .it would take much .consideration to get . over, the .hurdle. ITo, declared! that there vms a German 'agent here last, week selling articles which' he. was perfectly certain were made in Germaiiy. This agent had said that the goods would come from- Scandinavian ports, and would be earned in vessels which would be immune from submarine attack. Mr. .Caiman said : tbat. this latter'was . a very''''significant' statement; and he thought that there was something j-adi-cally wrong somewhere. In his opinion they would be doing the correct thing in carrying the resolution. It was no use the Dominion going in for these stringent resolutions unless' supported by the Empire. It was a very/ big that could-not, be decided upon in a- day or . even a year. Many people were patriotic enough today,.but in a year or so they would be purchasing in the cheapest market. Mr. A. Harris spoke in support of the' motion. He doubted whether aSO per cent; tariff would check German trade. The only way to stop her build-ing-up her. naval,and military strength again by the aid of money mado in British countries -was by total prohibition of German goods for, say, two years. . Mr. R. W. Green, also supported the motion. The part he liked about it was that the conditions existing at present -would continue for, some time after the war;- , So far as the .proposed tax or surtax was concerned, we, had not. sufficient data before us to know what tax would suffice. Ho considered Mr. Bassett's motion much more suitable than that suggested by'the Associated. Chambers. ; Til© motion was then, put and carried unanimously. \