TRADE WITH EAST

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 26, 31 January 1924, Page 6

TRADE WITH EAST

NO GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY

statem ent by m in Ist er of ;'.-'•- customs

GENERAL QUESTION - BEING CONSIDERED. -': ." '

That the Government is not favourably, disposed to grant subsidies to ship- ' ping > companies to develop trade with the East was a statement made by the Minister, of Customs (the Hon. W. Dowriie Stewart) this morning to a deputation from the New Zealand Farmers' Union, which waited on him to suggest ltha.t' the possibilities of finding a market'for' the Dominion's produce-in the East should be investigated. The deputation comprised Messrs. W. J. Poison (president of the union) and A. E. Harding'(Dargaville). In/.reply to the deputation, the Min. ister;-said it was quite right to say that the question was entirely one of shipping^ .facilities and getting a direct line .to tftsCTSajt. At present the w holts trouble^was that the system' necessitated transhipment at Sydney, which cost somewhere about £Z' a.ton or more, and made it*.very difficult for New Zealand exporters to~~ compete with Australian manufacturers. At the same time, he had been informed when he was in Sydney, thatHhe Australian manufacturers were not giving satisfaction with!Tiheix?goods, and representatives of F/asteitCTinterests told him that they would prefer to have New Zealand gpodsj-ishich, in their view at any rate, were; Ibetter made up and better laoelled. New butter was very attractive." ■ He'did nofr know what the Australians had done to remedy that state;of affairs. ' .: VERY BIG QUESTION., But, when it came to a question of shipping and a direct line to the East the" matter of subsidies 'opened up a very big question. He. had been watching 'the course of events in Australia, and "they- seemed to indicate that the Government activity irf that connection had j^ot proved very satisfactory. The Comatonwealth Board of Trade, after an exhaustive investigation, had reported to the Government that the payment of . a subsidy to a shipping line conducting a service to the East would riot be jus- < tifiedl ' On top of that the "Victorian Fanners' Union arranged for a deputation ;to interview the "Government to ask it, notwithstanding the report of the Commonwealth Board of Trade, to subsidise a shipping line to the East. He had not seen the result of that deputation, but a firm of shipping agents had ■ arranged for the dispatch of goods to Japanese and Chinese ports. Refrigerated space was provided, and the vessel •was-to leave.Melbourne. ,The Minister then, read an extract from-the Melbourne "Age" of 29th September. 1922, with reference to this undertaking, as follows: "A" firm of shipping, .agents has arranged fot the dispatch from Melbourne eariy.Jn November of a steamer bound for Saiidakan, Manila, Hong Kong, and Kobe. The vessel can carry.2oCo tons of frozen cargo, as well as some general, freight. The-fact that it is. to make the trip has been' extensively advertised;" From present' indications the steamer will leave Australia practically empty, or her refrigerated space will be occupied by a few consignments of cargo which could_,be. transported in an ordinary ;hold. • Nobody apparently wants the space provided for frozen cargo. Space has beeni bespoken for a small parcel of butter; otherwise the agents have waited in vain; for applications. "There is" a sharp" lesson to be drawn from these circumstances, and the lesson must not be lost upon the Federal Government; Cabinet decided some timeago that in order to develop ti-ade with the East it would offer 'a very .liberal subsidy' to shipping lines undertaking to establish services between Australia and Eastern ports, the condition being; that the vessels employed must be equipped with refrigerated space. The Board of Trade was deputed to inquire into how best the public money proposed to be spent could be employed.' Such -,informatipn as was gleaned suggested strongly that there was no warrant for the expenditure of any public money in this direction. The experience of the Melbourne/shipping firm provides positive confirmation." Continuing, the Minister said, lie thought that he saw in the Australian papers a complaint from the Australian manufacturers and merchants that they had not been- given adequate notice of the sailing.date of this ship, and could not make irp their cargoes at a moment's notice, but the article from which he had quoted said that the trip had been extensively advertised. It was interest-mg-t from New Zealand's point of view to -see what the effect had been of an attempt to;put on special steamers from Australia, to the East. ■ , ', ; A DUTCH OFFER. "1 do not think that the Government would favourably consider subsidies if there is any possibility of meeting the in any other direction," stated. "the"Minister, who added that a Dutch ; company had recently offered to provide a direct line of steamers to the East. , from New Zealand. Mr. Poison: "That rather upsets the statement of the paper from which you have just read." The Minister: "They are anxious to try the trade of New Zealand, and the general manager^ recently interviewed the chambers of commerce and manufacturers in New Zealand. The trouble. «fe)ut that proposal is'that before they wll consider opening up the trade —they admit that they would have to run at'. a lo>s for a year or two—they want the preferential duties taken off commodities.' thafc they would export to New . Zealand7* There is at present a duty on . Java pr-foreign teas of 2d a pound, and" on tapioca and sago and other products of that sort. That was the request they. mad£, that if these duties were taken , off they would try out the line. The i matter has not been fully discussed by Cabinet yet. However, the whole question;is being looked into and being discussed by Cabinet. • I think it would be a very desirable state of affairs—a chance for New Zealand manufacturers and- producers—to compete -with Australia on more level terms. "It is a little early for me to say anything more definite yet, but I only want to impress' on you that it is not lost sight of, but has been actually under consideration this week. I do think that the. Government would not be very ready to consider any question of subsidies,' because once you open up snbsi,dith. it is very difficult to get them off again, and if any scheme can be evolved for getting a better service than by- sub-: sidies it would be much more satisfactory; I do not think that I can carry it very much further just now."