NEW ZEALAND'S TRADE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 25, 29 July 1907, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND'S TRADE.

A' BID BY- MANCHESTER. The desho to deal dir»ct with New Zealand seems to bo greater among Manchester merchants than many others at Homo at present time, and within the past 12 or 18 months 'quito a number of them have sent their representatives out to canvass the colony. Mr. Duncan Steliox, head, of a big Manchester firai which is desirous of opening up trada with this country, thought it important enough to come out himself. He arrived in the colony six months ago, and since then has travelled over almost the whole of the two islands, visiting every town of importance. Making Auckland his last port of call, he arrived last week (says tho Auckland Herald), and since then has been engaged in business negotiations! On being interviewed by a Herald i«ipresentative, Mr. Stelfax stated that in visiting New Zealand his main pbject was to prosecute a scheme foj» developing the export timber trade for" which there was a largo market in the, north of -England. At present most of the colony's exports were landed at London, which meant extra handling and freight-age before, they reached the northern counties, but in 'order that this serious drawback might be done away with, his firm had made arrangements with tho Federal Shipping Company to take New Zealand goods direct to Manchester, via. the -ship canal. Going back to the question of the timber trade, Mr. Stelfox stated that there -was a great demand for, timber iv. England at the present time; the Baltic forests were rapidly being depleted, and the same applied to Canada, from which tne supplies were rapidly falling off. Already a large English firm was using various New Zealand woods, including the top branches of totara, for the manufacture of lead pencils, which could be made 30 per cent, cheaper out of this wood than out of the ordinary cedar. During his tour through New Zealand he had been much impressed with the colony's timber I resources, especially those of the North Island. 'He had already forwarded 120,Q00ft of white pine to .England as a sample shipment. It M-as a ticklish timber to deal with, and he was very much I interested in how the voyage home would affect ifc, as jf it got through all right a big trade would probably result. He had also taken advantage of the opportunity, while touring round, to look into the colony's^other natural resources. He was very much impressed \rith the possibilities which awaited th© development of the gold miniug and gold dredging industries, the antimony mines, and scheelite deposits in Otago, and Taranaki ironj sand. There was considerable scope for enterprise in each, and when he got back to England he would do all he .could to influence his financial friends to put capital into tbism. Mr. Stelfox intended to visit the South Sea Islands shortly, and after a hurried tour of Australia will return to England via Canada.