AUCKLANDER IN BRAZIL.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 20 April 1922, Page 3

AUCKLANDER IN BRAZIL.

OPINION OF THE COUNTRY.

SUFFERING A DEPRESSION.

PLACE OF POSSIBILITIES.

s Ihe Republic of Brazil, of which so c much was Heard during the rubber boom , of a few years ago, is now. in common with, the smaller Latin republics of '• South America, suffering a particularly acute trade depression. According to - an Aucklander, Mr T. Harding (brother > or Mr A. J. Harding, bookseller, of - l^ueen street), who has just arrived in n tne city after a residence of several . years in Brazil; that country is" at' prea sent a good pluce to be out of. As c instancing the depth, of trade depression b there he mentioned to a Star representa- . tive in the course of a chat that the 1 unit of currency in the republic the . miireis, which was worth eighteenpence 2 a little over two years ago, is now only j value for sevenpence. As a consequence * xhe country was stagnant, and its mi!- --! ports had dwindled to insignificance. 1 +iA coi in^ r -V of vast area,' greater than 3 that of. the Australian Commonwealth ; and i\ew Zealand, it was only half ex- , picred, and had only comparatively ; small industries in the larger cities- mii sufficient to build up an export trade of i any consequence, with the result that ■ th? r® J vas I:ttle prospect of immediate relief from the problem of existing on a debased currency. One of the curses ■ of Brazil was the bribery am* corruption that existed in official circles Most . of the larger industries, and the public supply undertakings, such as, waterworks, gasworks, and railways, were run oy foreign brains and capital, bat the -Brazilians were intensely jealous of any success by outsiders, and imposed almost prohibitive taxation on any such. iS ? stry that Promised to become pro- ■ tttable. For those reasons the country which was believed to have unlimited mineral resources, .and, was highly productive, was only half explored, and the industries were restricted to the public , sufPV wnperns, and to only partly d«VtJiOped undertakings in the widely separated large cities. This factor kept Brazil, he thought, m the state of a minor producing country, much like New Zealand, and for that reason he could not see much prospect at present of inter-trade between -New Zealand and Brazil. There was too much similarity between their states of development at the moment and little that New Zealand supplied that Brazil wantea. Perhaps one exception might be made to this, argument. The native population was a highly degenerate race whose infantile mortality ranged** between 30 and 40 per cent., and because ci that fact there was a possibility that the New Zealand milk product known as glaxq ,might find a profitable market in Brazil when the exchange rates warranted it, or if reciprocity could be arranged m Brazil sugar, cotfe and cigars. Talking discursively on Brazilian industries, Mr Harding remarked that the rubber trade there had practically "gone west." Manaos and Para were the centres of activity during the rubber boom, ou|, both the organisation and the product were crude. There were no regular plantations. The natives went back into the forests and gathered the rubber, making it up into balls about the size of a football, which they traded to. agents in the towns for export to the refining factories. The cost of this and the quality of the product compared unfavourably with the Malay plantation rubber. Moreover, a playful native habit of using a good sized stone as n, kernel for the rubber balls (which were sold by weight) hastened the end of this style or trading. - The cotton and sugar industries flourished mainly round the Pernambuco. Brazil cotton was coarse and shortfibred, and could not compete in oversea markets with the long-fibred cotton of -Egypt and the States. It was consequently wholly used at home beiii" made up in Sao Paulo, ■ the biggest manufacturing town of Brazil, and o^n erally the clothing fabric of the Brazilian masses, though the more wealthy people went in lavishly for the finest Parisian fabrics, which constiuted a considerable portion of the Brazil imports. Cigar making was a fairly important industry, and in Mr Hardmg's opinion the best Brazilian cigars compared favourably with the Havana article. But the staple industry of the public was coffee. In the interior behind Sao Paulo, the seat of the industry, one can travel for two days and a night in the train and see nothing but coffee "fazendas," or plantations. A special light railway line of 40 miles has been thrown round the plantations for the purpose of collecting the harvest, and the beans are sized, ground and packed at Sao Paulo, whence it is exported to Le Havre and New York, the most important export trade of the country. As a competitor in the meat market Brazil does not appeal to Mr. Harding. The industry has been established in the southern Rio Grande area, where freezers have been installed, but the beef (mutton is not grown) is generally of third-grade quality and unable to compete with New Zealand and Argentine beef. The cattle are a cross between pedigree English stock and the native hump-backed animals, the cross being necessary to enable the animals to withstand the insect r>ests, but the fittest that survive the" pests and the poor pastura.ee do not make ideal beef, hem<r jean and stringy. When the war had hit the Australasian and Argentine beef trade, Armour's opened a bio; packing house in Sao Paulo", with a capacity for handlinsc 2000 cattle and GOOO hogs ver eight hours. A fire delved the onenina: for a year, and in the meantime the Argentine trade recovered, with the

result that the Sao Paulo plant after running for about a year (in 1921) was closed down again, and is now idle Notwithstanding the failings of the people and the responsibility of the rulers, Mr. Harding 3s convinced that the- natural resources of Brazil are so boundless that the country has a great tuture before it.