TRADE RECIPROCITY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 263, 5 October 1936, Page 9

TRADE RECIPROCITY

BRITAIN AND NEW ZEALAND. SIR RICHARD LINTON’S MISSION. WELLINGTON, Oct. 5. With the object of advancing trade reciprocity between Great Britain and New Zealand, and in particular of establishing new agencies in New Zealand for British manufacturers, Sir Richard Linton, until recently AgentGeneral for Victoria in England, arrived at Wellington from Auckland yesterday. Sir Richard, who is aocoinpanied by Lady Linton, landed from the Awatca last Dlonday and was welcomed by the Dlayor of Auckland at a civic reception to the Hon. B. S. B. Stevens, Premier of New South Wales. ,In an interview Sir Richard described lfis mission as designed to stimulate “"two-way” traffic in pursuance of the Ottawa Agreement,” His tour is being made on behalf of British Industries House, the newly-established exhibition and marketing centre for British goods, which was made possible by the enterprise of a group of six British insurance companies. The building provides a permanent British industrial display and a meeting place for buyers and sellers. Adjoining Marble Arch and Hyde Park, it is one of the finest buildings _in London, and it cost over a million pounds. There is a complete hospital and medical appliances section, a fashion theatre and a British Industries House Club. The entire elaborate service to buyers and sellers is free of charge, and the cost of representation is only £35, which covers such services as rates, heating and lighting, information bureau, use of interviewing rooms and the services of a staff of interpreters. TRADE CODIPARTSONS.

British Industries House, said Sir Richard, offers a splendid opportunity to manufacturers and traders of the British Empire to implement further the Ottawa Agreement. He was glad to accede to a request to tour Australia and New Zealand to advance this aim. He quoted figures to show what the Ottawa Agreement had already meant to New Zealand. Exports from New Zealand to British countries last year, valued at £40,000,000, represented no less than 87.4 per cent, of the Dominion’s total exports. Butter exported in 1930 was 05,490 tons; in 1934, 137,170 tons; in 1935, 125,485 tons. In other words, since the Ottawa Agreement, New Zealand’s export of butter to Britain had increased by 100 per cent. As illustrating the work oi British Industries House in 1935 in marketing New Zealand produce direct to areas of consumption, Sir Richard quoted the following shipments of butter and meat direct to Glasgow and Manchester, instead of through London:— Butter: To Glasgow, 1930, 1400 tons; 1935, 8000 tons; to Manchester, 1930, 2173 tons; 1935, 8475 tons. Dleat: To Glasgow, 1930, 7068 tons; 1935 J 18,000 tons; to Dlancliester, 1930, 915 tons; 1935, 327.1 tons. The low prices received for New Zealand butter during the depression were a blessing in disguise, said Sir Richard. He could say with certainty that the British pubYio had acquired the taste of New Zealand butter, as the following comparative figures of the per capita consumption of butter and margarine would show: 1930: —Butter, 18.71 b., margarine, 11.81 b; 1931, 20.91 b, 10.31 b; 1932, 27.71 b., 9.21 b.; 1933, 23.51 b, 8.41 b.; 1934, 25.21 b., 71b. In 1935 the per capita consumption of New Zealand butter in Manchester was 35.81 b; in Newcastle, 301 b; in London, 27.51 b. The same effect of low prices could be noticed in the case of meat, fruit, and other New Zealand products. New Zealand chilled beef, Sir Richard added, was already established in popularity. INFLUENCE OF THE HOUSEWIFE.

Sir Richard was insistent that New Zealand’s future' prosperity depended on the British housewife. Tnat inliue'ntial person in the household had now become used to New Zealand goods, and with reasonable prices consumption would be maintained. But the New Zealand housewife must play her part by helping to bring the wages into . the Britisch home. She must buy British. If she was not already into the British home. She must be convinced by propaganda, and that was part of,his job. In August of this year there were more persons in employment in Britain tjiat at any previous time, said Sir Richard, an advance New Zealand could assist to maintain.

Referring to the Big Brother Dlovement for the migration of British boys to Australia, of which he was the founder, Sir Richard said he would be pleased if it could he extended to New Zealand. The right type of boy had been brought on to the land in Australia, and it was a splendid feature that not one had become unemployed in the depression years.