[ESTABLISHED 1875.] Manawatu Daily Times The Oldest Manawatu Journal. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 1913. COMMENTS ON COMMERCE.

Manawatu Times, Volume LXV, Issue 1902, 23 April 1913, Page 4

[ESTABLISHED 1875.] Manawatu Daily Times The Oldest Manawatu Journal. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 1913. COMMENTS ON COMMERCE.

In the course of a lengths annual speech Mr A. E. Mabin, president of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, supplies a quantity of very interesting information to indicate the progress of the past twelve months. Among other things he shows that Wellington has now become the leading wool-selling centre of New Zealand, a fact of considerable interest to this dintriet. But more nearly touching us is what he says concerning the hemp trade. The quantity of the output, he shows, has increased, but quality exhibits a falling away. Mr Mabin attributes this to inexperienced millers rushing into the trade; to a certain blight, also, which he Sriys has affected the Manawatu leaf.. But we notice he quite ignores the com laints of the manufacturers themselves that the

grading standards have been arbitrarily fixed by the Government, and that the fault lies chiefly with the grader and not with the miller. Perhaps this omission of Mr Mabin's is due to the fact that he is a merchant handling flax and not a hemp producer. The local millers may have interesting comments to make upon his statements. We notice, further, that Mr Mabin deals in a general way with the obvious necessity for a development of the London produce markets. But he makes no reference whatever to the possibilities of the extension of trade to European countries. This omission is regrettable. The merest acquaintance with the movements in European countries must convince anyone that the removal of the food tariffs is only a matter of a very short time. When that time comes the demands will be enormous. The present is the time when pioneering work snould be done in European countries by New Zealand's agents. This work abroad would be hastened if important institutions in New Zealand such as the Wellington Chamber of -.Commerce applied the spur. A good deal is said about the lack of publicity given abroad to the excellent goods New Zealand has upon her shelves. One way in which money could be judiciously spent in advertising would be to maintain a publicity bureau at the London office, and from there distribute articles and letters in foreign tongues to selected papers in France, Austria, Germany and Italy. They should be written for the masses and circulated in papers reaching the masses, and they should contain ordinary facts concern ing our frozen produce, homely facts for the people. In this way a public interest would be created, and popular demand would force the hands of the foreign Governments to cease depriving the people of access to cheaper food. At present the masses of the people know little or nothing concerning frozen food-stuffs from overseas, and what little they know is poisoned information from interested sources. A little enterprise in this direction would perhaps secure valu. able markets to New Zealand a year or two hence. The masses will continue to demand what they know most about