EMPIRE TRADE

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 November 1928, Page 8

EMPIRE TRADE

PARLIAMENTARY delegation. After crossing, recrossihg and again crossing the great continent, travelling perhaps 12,000 miles in the train, we are now in New Brunswick, travelling east, and we look back with almost amazement at the doings of the past fortnight (writes W. J. Jordan, M.P., in the Auckland Star). There have been scehes Of beauty, great snow-capped mountains, canyons, glaciers, and waterfalls, the great handiwork of Nature. The mountains are very slowly but surely crumbling, the frost is doing its work. Man’s service is called into use, ■and great apparent. The rOads and tunnels through the mountains are inasterpieces of skill. We visited the valley of Okanagan, once forest lands in the dry belt, but how a vast orchard, from which there is an. output of apples equal to that Of our whole Dominion. Costly irrigation systems have been established, and the miles of trees bearing Macintosh Red and Delicious are the result of labour and investment. Men, women, and even children at ten years of age ,Were at Work in the orchards and in the grading and Tacking depots. Tomato packers pay a halfpenny a pound for that product, which is canned in the district. The apple growers consider with envy the New Zealand Government guarantee of a penny per pound to the apple growers. Wfe have seen the paper mills, the output from one of which is 560.t0ns per day. The output di Newspaper alone from the Canadian mills in 1927 was 2,087,000 tons, and it is confidently expected that 1928 figures will exceed 2,500,000 tons. ,

The capital invested in paper-mak-ing is about £100,000,000. We have seen the harvesters gathering the enormous crop, Which is expected this year to aggregate 500,000,000. bushels. The lengthy trains, huge elevators, and lake boats are all loaded. Labour has been secured from all over the World, ahd as winter approaches there is gathered the result of a year’s planning.

Even the output of sardines is enormous. Obe depot which we visited, produces 300,000 cases per season. Another in the neighbourhood, but on the United States side of the Bay of Fundy, has an output of 1,500,000 cases per season, each case containing 100 tins, each tin from five to all gathered in the Bay. STILL IN THE MAKING. We have seen the hundreds of miles of forest lands and the lumber inills, with their extensive outpilt. Canada, however, is still in the making, and promises to be a considerable competitor against her southern neighbour. Her manufactures last yeah, With nine million people, Were as great as those of the United States in 1880. with a population of oVer 50 millions. -The output of mineral wealth was similar. The per capita value of Canada’s export in 1927 was £2B/15/-, against £B/6/8 from the United States, and with hfer rich deposits of minerals, vast forests, hundreds of miles of Wheat lands, enormous unused water power, and profitable fisheries, to say nothing Of the scenic attractions of her mountains, Canada must become a greater country. The system of land settlement is inviting, especially With the financial assistance of £3OO per family, which is loaned by the Imperial Government, to be repaid in a long term* I have been asked many questions, I have asked more.

We may well be pi’oud of this British possession. We did not come here for pleasure, but for education, and meeting representatives from all parts of the Empire has of itself been an education. We have heard Britain tell of her unemployment problem, of the displacement of men by machinery and changed methods. The use of oil fuel in. the navy has caused the dismissal of 15,000 coal miners, while the development of hydro electric services oil burning increase of hours of labour at the mines, and foreign competition have resulted in 250,000 fewer miners being engaged now than in 1913. It is regrettable to realise that for 70 per cent, of the oil fuel for our navy, air service, and transport we are dependent upon foreign countries and upon overseas for practically the whole of the supply. Endeavour is being made to relieve the situation by the use of pulverised coal and coal products.

We have heard the delegates from Africa tell of native problems in their land. India has reasoned in appeal for self-government. The Irish Free State representatives have told of the progress made during the last few xears and of the increased trade to and from Britain during that time. We listen, and make deductions and decisions. We are mindful of our own Dominion and its possibilities. One thing is certain, the Empire must be to a greater extent selfreliant. New Zealand is highly spoken of by all as a country blessed by the quality of its climate. We are renowned throughout for lamb, butter, and honey. Our apples are little known, but where they are they are praised.

It is unreasonable that one foreign people supplies 38 per cent of Britain’s imported apples, and New Zealand less than 1 per cent. Our unoccupied lands must yet boom. The Empire Marketing Board is interested in the matter. We have people in our cities who desire to become producers. Even more will be required; our population can be satisfactorily increased, and millions Who are now a liability will become a.valuable asset to the Empire by settlement in the many countries of the Empire. New Zealand has advantages which Canada has not —our ports open to shipping all the year, our cattle which need less tending, our rainfall and sunshine, our freedom from attacking animals, the absence of racial or language differences.

Our legislators have opportunities and responsibilities Which are recognised. I have learned much of the possibilities of our Dominion in the Empire. Prosperity can and will be our portion. I am proud ■to have been selected as one of our representatives to this gathering, and I hope, with this added experience, to be able to give greater service to New Zealand generally, and in particular to our district of Manukau, as it is the people of my own constituency who have made this great experience possible.