THE BIG EXHIBITION

Evening Star, Issue 18334, 23 July 1923, Page 9

THE BIG EXHIBITION

THE GAiITERBURY-OTAGO DISPUTE

USEFUL PURPOSE SERVED,

[Special to the ‘Stab,.’]

CHRISTCHURCH, July 23.

I In nn editorial the ‘ Dress ’ says: “ Although some points arc a little obscure in the dispute between the Industrial Associations of Canterbury and Otago regarding the exhibition at Dunedin, it is clear that the Dunedin delegation which visited Christchurch in February left upon the minds of the local association the distinct impression that the exhibition was to be Imperial, not international. Most people, it may safely bo assumed, will support the attitude of the Canterbury Association. There is a good deal to be said for holding international exhibitions, because the competition in trade is a great stimulus to cllioicncy in industrial'methods. The president of the Canterbury Association objects to the holding of an international exhibition on the ground that it would give every encouragement to the importation and 'the use of foreign-made, goods, to the detriment of our own industries and those of the Empire generally. If the exhibition of foreign-made goods would give to their importation an encouragement stronger than the practical discouragement of the heavy tariff against such goods, it might bo put forward as a defensible theory that our manufacturers would bo likely to profit from an opportunity to inspect such efficient alien wares ; anil this is the theory which would not merely be defensible, but worthy of being actively advocated, if it were not that at the present time the encouragement of intra-imperial trade is of immense importance. This consideration persuades us that at the Dunedin exhibition the exhibits should be restricted to goods made within the Empire. A great deal of business is done by the dominion with foreign countries which could bo dene with Britain, and no means should be neglected of enlarging Britain’s share of the dominion’s custom. We do not suppose that an exhibition featuring foreign goods would operate as seriously against intraimperial business as Mr Jenkins appears to think: but the point is that it ought to be impressed upon the public,* wherever the opportunity offers, that mutual help between the different States of the Empire is necessary to the maintenance of the British Commonwealth. The disputo.br; tween the Otago and Canterbury Indus trial Associations will therefore serve a useful purpose in bringing prominently before the publip an issue of so much importance.”