NOT SO FAR AWAY

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 100, 30 April 1927, Page 6

NOT SO FAR AWAY

NEW ZEALAND AND TJ.S.A

TRADE POSSIBILITIES

DISCUSSED IN" A LOS ANGELES

1 JOURNAL

■ Even America appears at times to miss opportunities of trading with other countries,,.: but when' that country's business men discover a market they immediately start to find out whether it is •worth-while. For many yeara New • Zealand was considered as too distant to be worth while, but recently the cities on the Pacific coast have awakened to the fact j : that this Dominion may become a. steady and extensive purchaser of American goods. Under the heading of "New Zealand is not so Far Away," Mr. Stanley T. Olafson writes as follows in "Southern Californian Business," a Journal .published monthly by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. ,His views on New Zealand business cannot but be interesting to New Zealand business men. Sales-and-export managers of -a large number of Los Angeles industries, manufacturers, and merchants should get ,i new slant on New Zealand and Australia. The United States Shipping Board has " consolidated freight lines to the Orient, with a readjustment I of schedules for improved steamer service. < Any announcement dealing with an improvement in transportation service is generally regarded as important trade I information. It. is doubtful, however, whether the "average sales „ manager I; views the. significance of transportation facilities to foreign markets -with anywhere near the care and consideration to which it is entitled, if regard is had for the possibilities of expansion of present business. In overlooking the foreign market the ! local, merchant and manufacturers are •undoubtedly influenced to a large degree by the apparent remoteness of the market, together with apprehension of credit risks, and unfamiliarity with methods employed to develop business connections. Yet, in many instances, the foreign market may be economically .lust as close, from the standpoint of cost in delivery of merchandise, as many points withn the local trade area which he is now serving. \ For instance, figured on a basis of transportation costs, compared . with ml rates, New Zealand is not as far away as Fresno. In other words water transportation brings, the Antipodes within 2!00 ot 300 miles of Cataima Island, figured in terms of transportation costs. . , A!. *or credit risks, the machinery for handling foreign trade to-day leaves room or excuse for no more of a risk than that encountered in ordinary domestic business, and in many foreign ™! l*™k of a ris/is to be met with than in connection with domestic business. With distinct advantages in its geographic location with respect to important Pacific area markets/its unsu™pssed port facilities and increasing improvements in steamship services to the majority of world markets, together with a wide variety of raw materials An Jl . manu^tured products, Los Angeles should profit immensely by the trade which markets in countries of he Pacific area are offering - xne comnli!i^ S- (mCc? °f wlm* ha* >><*« accomplished in going into some of these t^inT^T lt*h\™y to others. E^ Mi. I'iank Simpson and Mr. v Dick mson, both of Buuedin. These gentle nion opened the eyes of certain "„. Angeles exporters to New ZcaLd >l possibility, and some who were misieged to hear (he entertain?™ w instructive addresses given ™ t Ce b?uttea O p^ nu^n';ffc r fhe'Tn 1"^ *° ViBU tho W°»dertand in itv ™T , S°aS at th<? flrßt opportunity and lose no further time in endeavouring to establiah business rclations^with firm. i n New Zealand rcla iv det^, \? d *hese K<^><»nen i-elate I in detail the facts concerning New Zealand, but they said that while Los honn IAI S ™" >own .there as the homo of tho moving picture industry, and as having a wonderful climate they $S «»L? h°L showed "ote-books they had filled with memos for future reference concerning Los Angeles- ?*** £ rOducts *or which a demand J£ }!* "°ated- « »l«»fly existed, throughout New Zealand. They came to spend one or two days as «icht«epv<i intending to go on to easts™SS tres to place their business, but they remained five weeks, for they discovered that many of the products which they^destfed to purchase could bo obeWhere? m°re ."^""Wdy than j _One of these men had come to'the United States to find fiavonrs for cakes and pastry, and also an oven for wholesale bread baking. He found the flavours in Los Angeles, and the firm with which he made connections here has made about twelve shipments to his firm in the past year, amounting to several, thousand dollars in value. Tnis brand of Los Angeles-made flavourings is becoming one ot the standard flavours used all over New Zealand. Also the baking oven which he had expected to buy in the East he found made by a firm in Long Beach. , Another example: A manufacturer in Los Angeles of: plaster wallboard mailed about twenty-five letters to various wholesale building, supply houses throughout New Zealand, enclosing pamphlets illustrating and describing his product, and forwarded a . small sample by parcel post fie received responses from practically all of the firms, and ono mentioned the fact that their manager was in England and cables had been dispatched requesting that, he return to New Zealand by way of the United States and to. call at Los Angeles in regard to this plaster wallboard. In due course this gentleman arrived and was shown the product in the proces of manufacture. He placed an initial order for 250,000 square feet of plaster wallboard. The Los Angeles manufacturer has since shipped ' this one firm nearly 4000 crates containing nearly 2,000,000 square feet of this product. This local firm at the present time is shipping 150 tons of plaster wallboard to New Zealand e-nery month. During the. month of June a gentleman arrived in Los Angeles fom New Zealand, and in the course of a. conversation he mentioned the fact that he was searching for a practical floor mop and polish mop. He, stated the he usually spent Saturday afternoons at home taking the mop used in his household apart in'order-to have it cleaned, and he said that taking, the mop off the handle and putting it on again entirely ruined his disposition every time he attempted it.' , . For about six months thei writer,had passed a place in Pasadena that has an onlarged can advertising'the fact that it contained 10,000' gallons of a certain brand of furniture polish. Wo mentioned this to ; our friend from New Zealand, and ventured an opinion that a manufacturer of furniture polish might also make a mop, so the following day we visited this particular fac- <*«£ ±n.,Easadena, T.h«F, httf a. mop and

the man from New Zealand said it was the best mop he had ever seen. Before lie left the factory he placed an initial order for 2300 dollars' worth of these mops and furnitue polish. After his return, to Dunedin, New Zealand, the factory in Pasadena received a cable order for an additional quantity amounting to 2100 dollars. After a few days another cablegram came, doubling the amount of the, first cable order. The following day another cablegram came requesting that the same quantity be shipped to Auckland, Wellington,- and Christchurch. Apparently the Pasedena manufacturer of mops and polish is "cleaning up" in New Zealand. Another Los Angeles manufacturer is finding a splendid field in New Zealand for electric motors. The sprinkling system used in the gardens and lawns throughout California is a common sight here, but this system was unknown in New Zealand until it was observed by a visitor. Large quantities of sprinkler heads are now being shipped to the Antipodes. Steel shelving and lockers are other local products for which a market has been established in New Zealand. Another fact of interest is that firms in New Zealand prefer to place all their orders through an exporting and importing commission house located in the United States. New York has been the centre of this activity, but recently several firms in New, Zealand have appointed buying agents in Los Angeles. A house here has recently received in-' structions from one firm in New Zealand to place orders amounting to over 20,000 dollars for needed products, in seven cities outpide of Los Angeles products which are not made -here. Los Angeles benefits, for credits are opened with Los Angeles banks, and the insurance and shipping is controlled here. Practically all of the business mentioned has "just come" to Los Angeles. Very few manufacturers here have made an aggressive campaign in New Zealand'to secure business. Should not the success of the firms mentioned herein be an inspiration to other manufacturers to make a determined effort to secure trade in the Southern commonwealtH? It should be remembered, however, that New Zealanders know very little about the United States, and Los Angeles in particular, and perhaps a little prejudice against us may be discovered from time to time. However, this attitude ' is rapidly changing to one of extreme friendliness, as is evidenced by the contents of a letter received by a Los Angeles concern whose manager was out of the city when the client from New Zealand arrived. This letter reads: "I once had a wee prejudice against America and things American. If it is not already as dead as a door pail it is going through the last stages of dissolution. It simply cannot live in this atmosphere." One reason,why Los Angeles has a distinct advantage in New Zealand is because the present steamship schedule from here to that country is only twenty-four days, compared with thirtysix days from New York, and. sixty days from London. . This means that orders may be filled iv much less time from Los Angeles than from the Atlantic seaboard or from Europe. The purchases of New Zealand from the United States amount to approximately 35,000,000 dollars annually, but j only a small per cent, of this is now going from the Pacific coast. With our improved steamship service, is not this a business well worth going after? And as the tonnage is built up the time will come when a fast passenger line will i be possible, and this will bring the great majority of New Zealand travellers this way, tending to increase still further our trade in that part of the world. ■