CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVII, Issue 4461, 24 October 1933, Page 8

CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE

WAIKATO ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT'S NEW IDEA . A suggestion that Chamberjs of Commerce should confine their discussions to purely local matters and eschew controversial subjects, was the somewhat startling idea put before members of the Matamata Chamber of Commerce by Mr G. V. Pearee, newly-Jelected president of the Putaruru Chamber, on Monday. Mr Pearee, in the course of his remarks, held that the Waikato chambers should work together more than had been done in the past. The Putaruru chamber felt that Putaruru, Morrinsville, Te Aroha, Hamilton aand Te Awamutu had much in common, and should form an Association of Country Chambers. They felt that city interests were not altogether those of the country. Importers swayed the city chambers, whereas country chambers were bound up with exporters. A question the Putaruru Chamber was interested in was that the country of origin was not plainly marked on some imported goods, and under a guise of two Union Jacks, German goods wiere being sold. Then there was the matter of cheap Japanese goods which needed attention. He had been pleased to note, after having long experience in city chambers, that there was a far greater demand for British goods in the country than in the cities.

Touching on the matters which were brought before Chambers of Commerce, Mr Pearee held that no controversial subjects should be taken up. There was plenty for a chamber to do in looking after purely local matters, and if these were attended to properly keen interest would be aroused among business people. If controversial matters were admitted, then that harmony which should prevail in a chamber was at once broken up, as members took sides. Such matters, he felt, should not be introduced, but should be left to the parties concerned. The revolutionary idea promulgated by the speaker did not find favour, and though it was not put forward for debate, several mjembers touched upon it in the course of their remarks.

Mr 0. Heedegen mentioned that anything which affected the farmer affected members of a chamber, and therefore was a fit subject for a discussion if need be.

Mr H. E. Schofield (president) remarked tlhat the suggestion to form a Country Chambers of Commerce Association would be discussed when the letter from Putaruru arrived. Regarding the suggestion that certain controversial subjects should not be discussed, it was true that public opinion could be aroused and expressed in the ballot box, but he held it was the duty of members to thresh out certain matters so that a lead could be given on all those matters which came within the chamber's jurisdiction. To refuse to } take an interest in national probi lems would be to neglect this duty.