EMPIRE SHOPPING

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 May 1931, Page 3

EMPIRE SHOPPING

HELPING NEW ZEALAND

EDINBURGH, March 27

Mr. Harold M. Ford, commercial manager of the Clyde Navigation Trust, the speaker at yesterday's meeting of the Edinburgh Women’s puncheon Club at Mackie’s restaurant, gave an address on Empire shopping and the Scottish housewife’s responsibility therein.

Mrs Strachan presided. What he had to say, Mr. Ford clair.i- . ed, in no way affected politics. He knew of no finer way of holding the Empire together and peeping up the ties of friendship with our own people in the Dominions than by supporting them by means of our shopping < n this side. The sympathy of everyone in Great Britain was going out to that gallant little country, New Zealand, than which no part of tjre British Ernniro was more loyal. (Applause.) It did not redound very much to our credit, in view of the recent disaster, that all that Great Britain had sub-, scribed amounted to no more than £46,000, whereas not many years ago she sent £2,000,000 to assist a foreign country in a very similar, calamity. “It is in your hands, and in the hands of the whole of the women in Great Britain,” said Mr. Fdrd, in an appeal to housewives tp buy Empire produce, with a specially sympathetic eye at this time to New Zealand. We were paying America —or rather the ladies were paying—he pointed out, £195,000,000 a year for foodstuffs, and Denmark, £56,000,000. Against that, America was paying us and Denmark was paying us £10,000,000. Put that beside New Zealand — a country with a population the size of Glasgow —who were buying £23.000,000 to £25,000,000 of goods from us. The whole of the capital of New Zealand depended on the: production of meat, wool, butter, cheese, eggs, and fiarit. Knowing the position, was it not about time we set our hous.e in order and said to our own people in New Zealand—“We will buy your butter’ ? instead of bringing it from a foreign country. What were the foreigners to us? He did not know what the development of the Dominions would be unless the women, who held the keys of the situation, took the matter up. If a million British homes spent £3 a year on New Zealand butter, that would allow New Zealand to speui £3,000,000 in this country. If only the women in this country would wale UP It was said that Scotland consumed more fruit per head per annum than any other country Two million cases of apples a year came here from America, which meant a turnover of £1,000,000 to America. New Zealand apples were every bit as good. Between New Zealand and Australia something like 6000 tons of apples were coming to this country within the next few months. He referred also to the large fruit canning factories of Australia, and the dried fruits produced by the labour of ex-Serviceme t, a large proportion of whom were Scotsmen. A vote of thanks was passed on tjie motion of Miss Christine Turnbull.