IMPORT TRADE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 97, 24 April 1912, Page 3

IMPORT TRADE.

AMERICA AND NEW ZEALAND IN TERESTING INTERVIEW. [ET TEL-EGH.JLPM — SPECIAL TO THK POST.] CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Mr. W. G. Wickham, the British Board of Trade Cominkeio'ner. gave a very interesting interview to a Times reporter to-day concerning New Zealand'e import trade. Chatting about the large proportional increase of American importation to New Zealand during the pact two decades, he said that ifc was very haid, almost impossible, in fact, to form a reliable opinion on th;ifc pointy as it was not known exactly how much, of the importations was of American manufacture. It was mentioned to him that statistics supplied in the Dominion's Blue Book shows that America has made an enormous advance in its export trade to New Zealand compared with the advance made by the United Kingdom. "I'm somewhat inclined to smile when I hear you say that," he replied. "I should like to know what statistics you refer to. The fact of the matter is, figures in _ Blue Books, like figures in other things, may be very misleading. Your statistics may show large- increases year by year in goods sent to your snores from American ports, but they do not show that those goods were manufactured in America. I have- no doubt that great quantities of them were made in Canada ; for all anybody knows, many of them may have been made in England, Scotland, or Ireland, or in Germany or France, foi that matter. That is the weakness of your Bystem of compiling those statistics. They merely show that certain quantities of goods have been shipped from certain countries. They show the imports from Australia, for instance, but in those imports there are undoubtedly gdode made in America. You want a better system of compilation, and until you have it your statistics will fail to supply reliable information as to the countries that manufacture- sill the goods you consume. 1 ' QUESTION OF IMPROVEMENTS. Asked how the system could b<? improved, Mr. Wickham said thai the Customs Department could provide that the information must be contained in the invoices. If that were done, the documents would show where the goods were made as well a* the ports from which they were shipped. Australia had adopted that, system; the Commonwealth's statistics in that' respect consequently were mnch more vaJuable than New Zealand's. A simple plan might • be used which would cause as little inconvenience to shippers as possible. The commissioner's remarks on the importance of American goods to New Zealand brought forth a suggestion that the strong prejudice which existed in the Dominion *bout twenty years ago against American manufactures * was slowly passing away. He, said that so far as llis experience went the tendency was in the direction of prejudice in favour of the American article., A case had been brought under his notice- recently. A man went into a shop to buy a shovel. He was offered an English one for 3s, but insisted upon having art American one, for which he paid 4b. In reply to a statement that Americans seem to push their goods with special energy on the farms, Ah-. Wickham said that American dealers made great profits out of separate parts supplied with machines and implements. He was told that some New Zealanders, notably farmers, felt that the Americans made an article whioh, although it might not be as substantial, lasting, and highly qualified as the .British article, was jujt good enough for the purpose for which' it was required. In reply to that, he said that if New Zealauders preferred* a low-priced article of poor quality they could have it, as the British manufacturer valued his reputation and would not ruin it by placing on the market cheap and nasty manufacturers. It -was cheaper in the end to pay a fair price for an implement that would last ten years than to pay a low price for one which wonld last only four years. Mr. Wiekham's immediate object is to make careful enquiries in order to ascertain the position as far as possible, and if he finds that foreign importations are threatening any section of British importations he will give that section his special attention.