NEW ZEALAND & AMERICA

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 1 June 1914, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND & AMERICA

TRADE RELATIO >SHIP

"The growing prospect of commei.ee % with Canada and the UmW Stsit-s is of first-rate importance oo New Zea- ' land. On the Pacific Coast of those countries there is n population-of <^*>r five .millions vho v.'wnt picric is that Australasia can supply nr. i n i» ior New Zealand to see that it secures its share of that trade. Fortunately our Government—both the late Govern nent and • the present Government—have been keenly alive to the possibilities in this direction." Thus commeatod the president of the Wellington Ciaipter of Commerce in his annual report (f-ajs the Post). "A steamer service to the I'tcific ports from New Zealand alone (without an extension to Australia) would no,t, up to the present at any rate, have been a payable proposition, either as a cargo service or as a mail service, and for Australian boats to call at New Zealand means a marked deviation and consequent loss of time," he added. "Realising this, our statesmen took early steps to secure New Zealand's position by means of this foresight, combined, nuvy I say, with the enterprise of a shipping company of New - Zealand origin, but which is becoming ; of Vorld-wide importance, New Zealand might have been overshadowed or sidetracked by Pacific steamer services originating and controlled in Australia or some other country with no special in- • teresfc in New Zealand.' The possibilities of trade with the United States have, of course, been enormously mxx creased by the late sweeping reductions in the American tariff, and for the convenience' of members we have included in the report a list of the chief items likely to affect this country. To students of political economy this reduction in the American tariff is one ' of the most interesting economic events that have occurred since the inauguration of free trade in England early in v s the last century. Let; iis hope that it • is only the forerunner of similar movements in other countries. The effects of this change are already beginning • to be felt. Our exports of dairy produce in that direction are expanding rapidly. There have been several shipments of wool to New York and Boston, via Cape Horn, and shipments of meat, though not of large size and somewhat of an. experimental character, from Australia. So encouraging is the prospect that the Union Steam Ship Co., Ltd., have inaugurated a bimonthly cargo service between Australia and the Pacific Coast, which will include a call at. New Zealand ports whenever inducement offers. It is for New Zealand to see that the inducement is forthcoming. What effect the Panama Canal will have on this trade it is difficult to forecast. It should afford us a better entry for our wool, " peat, and dairy produce into the Eastern States. But we would still have to, meet the competition of the great \. •meat-producing countries of the Argen- , tine and Patagonia."