TRADE WITH AMERICA

Evening Post, Volume XCI, Issue 147, 22 June 1916, Page 2

TRADE WITH AMERICA

FUTURE LIES ON THE EAST COAST.

Mr. E. Clifton, New Zealand Commissioner to the Panama Exposition, gave tha Palmerston Dairy Farmers' . Conference some important information on ■ trade prospects with the States. "It will appeal to you that while the Pacific j Coast) with its ports of Vancouver, Seattle, and San. Francisco have been the immediate objects for our markets, :we should rather direct our energy to ! the eastern cities of America. There i i are- situated the great manufacturing cities, there is the population. It is there undoubtedly that we should prepare for our chief market. At the close, of the war there will be an immense ! demand along the eastern seaboard for the whole of our food products. The money has been pouring into those cities; their purchasing power will be enormously increased. It is also now a comparatively short transit, the Panama Canal offers that facility, and there are already certain of our ships advertised as proposing to pass through that channel. "Our trade with Canada, via Vancouver, should certainly bo fostered. A very useful market has been established there, one of considerable volume, one that may not possibly.' increase very largely, indeed, there is more probability of its decrease. The dairy farms of Canada aa-e now close on to the eastern side of.the Rocky Mountains, and with improved railway transportation British Columbia will derive a considerable quantity of its dairy products from that centre. It is somewhat unfortunate that comparatively poor grades of butter have been permitted to reach the Vancouver market. I saw there on the wharf a second-grade butter that had been graded in New Zealand eight months previously. I followed this butter and found that it was most undoubtedly second grade. I am not a butter expert, but this was unmistakeable. The merchant who bought it very fairly said it was profitable to do so; it cost so much less than the- first grade, and the retail price was the same. When this butter was placed on the shelves of the retailer the boxes were taken, and the block honestly labelled, " New Zealand.Butter," the product of New Zealand. It does not, however, say that it is second rate, nor would it be possible to expect the trader there to do so, if such butter is permitted to leave this country. You may or may not conaider it desirable, but to me it would appeal as at least unfortunate. This probably accounts for the opinion | heard in Vancouver by those who used our butter that they liked it when it< first arrived, but that very often it will not keep for any length of time; that it does not remain in good condition nearly so long as the butter from their own country. . ' "While speaTcing of this we fail to realise how careful' is the American and Canadian trader in sotting out his goods. Butter, for instance, is seldom, sold except enclosed in a butter paper and then again covered with a well-de-signed paper carton. A further development is often seen, when the pound packet is cut into quarters, each quarter is carefully folded in paper, the- whole again in a paper cover, and .igain in the carton. At one establishment where this wfts in vogue I enquired what was the greater cost of the pound divided in four as in the single packet. I was told two cents, the "equivalent of Id. On asking the operator who bought it she told'me quite seriously it was 'the fool woman '; she does not mind what she pays. However, this is by the way. - " Greater attention should, I think, be directed to our butter, and if such a thing were" possible that it. may be put on the markets of Vancouver and Seattle in the same form in which butter is seen in Honolulu, where it is already set up in the one-pound packets. 'On this the grade is stated. It would bo better for the credit of our products. The question of .the butter market at San Francisco may not be very and is not important. California produces a very large quantity of buttar itself. Itl is doubtful if our butter could be sold there profitably, except in special sea-sons;, and a seasonal or spasmodic market cannot be considered of great importance. "My recommendation to you is that New Zealand should now diligently prepare the markets of eastern America. It is there that our food products will meet with the greatest demand." c