AUSTRALIAN TRADE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 156, 30 December 1925, Page 9

AUSTRALIAN TRADE

FIFTY MILLIONS SPENT LAST

YEAR

ALL FBOM COUNTRIES OTHER

THAN BRITAIN.

"Last year Australia bought nearly £50,000,000 worta of competitive goods from countries other than the United Kingdom. This obviously meant that private individuals and Government Departments were disregarding the fundamental necessities of .the Empire's present; economic position.'' v

Such was the striking statement made by the president of the Australian Association of British Manufactures (Mr. H. F. Hndsoa), at the 11th annual meeting of the association at the Hotel Australia or. 10th December, reports the Sydney "Sun." Mr. Hudson strongly criticised the tendency now showing itself to use Empire capital in supporting foreign production. He quoted several eases of what he described as actions by Australian interests that were hostile to British trade.

•'I am not exaggerating when I say that £50,000,000 would have made aa enormous difference to the industrial position in the Mother Country," Mr. Hudson declared. "After all," he said, "it is futile for public men and officials and the heads of business firms to give lip service only to the eause of the Empire. Wo do not want so much the waving of the Union Jack, but the waving of order forms. Tb,ere is no doubt that some of our competitors; arc engaged in vigorous and not always scrupulous propaganda to depreciate the e^fleieney and adaptability of British manufacturers. In this respect, our associatibi can do much to supply technical and' other information,, and.if responsible public officers availed, themselves fully of this, many orders that are finding their way to foreign countries might be diverted to Great Britain.

"We are entitled to ask in any case that the Governments of Australia should have some very powerful reason for. giving orders to foreign countries when Great Britain can supply the goods required at favourable prices." ','.'.* ■...-. Mr. Hudson said that the association had reliable information that in the building of the new Federal Parliament House at Canberra, a very large order was definitely placed by responsible, officers . with '■'■. the. United States for cylinder latch sets, and oth'er door and window fittings. The British manufacturer had never' been given an opportunity to quote. There they had an instance of Australia's first national institution being partly fitted with American fittings. But Australian or Empire money was paying for thesa goods. Mr. Hudson said that on a bank being built by the Government in Sydney an order running' into several thousand pounds.for locks and hardware for windows and doors had gone to the ' United States. If he were given an opportunity the British manufacturer could have supplied the goods. In South Australia, Mr. Hudson went on, large orders amounting to over ££,000,000 were placed with the United States for railway wagons, which ' the British manufacturer, if given an opportunity, dould have supplied. Here again Empire money must be forthcoming to pay for this foreign material. The Victorian Railways " Department, he said, placed an order for motor-lorries with an American firm, although the lowest British tenderer was actually lower in price and the standard of the British .lorry is undoubted.

Within six months in Sydney alone three separate taxi-cab companies had been' formed, one with a capital of £250,000, the second with a capital of £100,000, and the third with a capital of £200,000. Tho Australian public have been asked to subscribe a large proportion of the capital, but the taxi cabs are all of foreign origin—an-, ither illustration of Empire capital. Supporting foreign production. F The president said he was not eiting these instances in any spirit of i.ntagonism, but rather in thje hope tflat' they- would in future lead 1 to the cultivation*of a better Empire spirit, and the keeping of trade within the Empire as much as possible. . Mr. Hudson said that the manufacturers were fulls- reconciled to the principle of reasonable protection of Australian secondary* industries. But they were out to combat with the full f(?rce of their organisation applications for artificial, unscientific, and unreasonable protection. In the new tariff they appreciated the additional concessions to be granted to British products against foreign competitors, particularly the additional preference on British motor-cars. Still,the new tariff, they believed, must have an adverse effect on British trading, interests, because of the items on which the increased duties had been imposed, 75 per cent, applied to goods usually imported from Great Britain, while about 25 per cent, .applied to goods usually imported from foreign competitors.

",It should not be beyoad the eapaeity of the Commonwealth Government," Mr. Hudson proceeded, "to devise a more scientific tariff which would give Great Britain a more preponderating position in regard to' Australia's imports against foreign competitors. Greai Britain's share of Australian imports for the year end.ed June, 1925, waV £69,000,----000, whilst the United States' share was £38,000,000. On the other hand, Australia's exports to the United Kingdom were about £64,000,000, and to the.United States only about £7,----500,000."

In conclusion, Mr. Hudson urged a full and deliberate trade reciprocity if they were to got the greatest benefits from inter : Empiro trade.