NEW ZEALAND AND THE WORLD'S FAIR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 8811, 26 February 1892, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND AND THE WORLD'S FAIR.

THE TARIFF ON WOOL.

Duriso the annual meeting of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce yesterday an interesting address was given by Mr. George H. Wallace, United States ConsulGeneral in Australasia on the subject of Colonial representation at the Chicago Exposition, and how it will be affected by the American tariff on wool.

The Chairman said that Mr. Wallace was present at his invitation. A conversation had taken place between them that morning as to the representation of the colony at the great exhibition in Chicago, when he (the Chairman) had referred to the tariff on wool as bearing upon the subject. Mr. Wallace's reply had been of such a nature that he had asked him to come and repeat it to the Chamber. Mr. Wallace said he was away from home on pleasure bent; he came here to see the sights, natural and otherwise, which New Zealand had to show, and his appearance at that meeting was as much a surprise to himself as it could be to the member? of the Chamber. He had met their chairman that morning, when he had taken occasion to gay something to him about the World's Fair at Chicago, which he had also said elsewhere, and as a consequence the chairman had invited him to attend that meeting. He was glad to be present, and have the opportunity of saying that his opinion of Auckland had been very greatly changed by this, his second visit. When here a year ago last December the streets were dull and nothing was doing, and he heartily congratulated them on the change that had since taken place. He learned from the papers that the people of the colony had practically taken off their coats, rolled up their sleeves, and gone to work, relying on [ their own resources to show tho world what their country was made of. He was very glad to see it. From the list of exports and imports laid before the meeting he saw that the United States ranked°third. He would like to ask the compilers of the statement whether they had pursued the same course as the compilers of the Victorian statistics, because if so the figures would be entirely wrong. He had found in endeavouring to establish a semi-

monthly mail that the figures given by the Victorian statistics showed only about half of the exports shown by the official records in the consulate. As to the imports he also found that the figures were wrong. For instance, tobacco and kerosene were credited to England ; whereas no tobacco or kerosene were produced in that country. These goods had been sent to England, and transhipped from there. On his representations, however, steps had been taken to prevent that sorb of thing in future. In many places in New Zealand he had been asked, " Why should we send exhibits to the Exhibition when you put such heavy duties on our products?" Well, there were two or three ways of looking at the matter, and he wished for a moment to call attention to the American standpoint. The colony imported kerosene from the United States, and charged a duty on it of -">0 per cent, ad valorem; it imported tobacco, and put on a duty of from 600 to 1000 per cent. The United States imported wool from New Zealand, and the duty on it was about 50 per cent., so that it seemed to him the States treated the colony as the colony treated the States. The States afforded the best market for wool in the world, and what had their tariff to do with it ? They bought ib where the quality and the price were in their favour, for, as the members of the Chamber very

k vell knew, there was no such thing as sentiment in business. The colony s real competitor was, not the United States tariff, but the Argentine Republic, where there were one hundred million sheep, or as many as all Australasia contained. The States bought I lib of wool per caput, and they would buy it where they got it cheapest and of the best quality. The best quality was undoubtedly to be had from New Zealand and Australia ; the values would always be in favour of these colonies, and so long as prices did not gc beyond the margin, the States would buy their wool. The McKinley tariff had increased the duty, but the effect had not been to decrease the import of wool ; for, or the contrary, the imports of wool during last year showed a very largo increase or those of any previous year. The McKinlej tariff had raised the duty on third-clas< wool from 2£ cents to 11 cents per lb, whil< the duty on the first class articla had onh been raised by '2£ cents. These figures . i . i _ rru:

referred to wool in the grease. This higher increase on the inferior wool than on the superior, or a higher increase on the wool that competed with the NewZealand product, forced the manufacturers to use the better article, and was therefore all in favour of the colonies. He thought Australasian growers should try to keep up the McKinley tariff. The duties on manufactured wool had been very largely increased, which merely had the effect of inducing the importation of the raw material" from the producing countries instead of the manufactured article from Bradford. Coming to flax, he pointed out that it was admitted by the McKinley tariff free. He had been very much interested in looking in to the flax industry, its quality, its treatment, and the manner in which it could be forwarded to the United States, and it appeared to him that in the very near future the colony should very largely increase its flax export to America. All in the States would be glad to see New Zealand represented at the Exposition. It would be the greatest affair of the kind that the world had ever known. The sum of twenty-seven and a half millions in American currency would be expended upon it, and transportation companies would be engaged. If the representatives of New Zealand did no more good than to show her products to the other countries of the world it would lead to trade with those countries, but he believed it would also lead to greatly increased business with America itself. There was a little hesitancy in regard to representation on the part of the colonies, but principally on account of financeshe had heard of no other reason, New South Wales had voted £30,000 ; Victoria, £20,000; what South Australia would do was a matter of doubt. Queensland would be represented, and New Zealand occupied such a position in Australasia, that if she was not fully represented she would be missed. The people of the United States would give New Zealanders a hearty welcome, and do everything in their power to make their visit as pleasant as possible. Mr. Connolly, the local American Consul, would be prepared to give all the information he could on this subject, and in conclusion, he could only hope that New Zealand would be properly represented. Mr. C. C. McMillan expressed the hope that Mr. Wallace would not leave the j meeting until the matter was discussed. Mr. Wallace said he would have been happy to remain and discuss the question, but unfortunately he had an engagement he was bound to keep. He was not going away because he was afraid of attack. The Chairman proposed a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. Wallace for his address. Mr. McMillan seconded the motion, but said he was sorry he had not had the opportunity of replying to Mr. Wallace. That gentleman was a most able advocate, but his case was a bad one. It was a pity he could nob remain to hear a few facts which would demolish his arguments. The motion was carried unanimously. Mr. Wallace jocularly remarked that it had been his fortune before to receive back handed compliments, and he knew how tc take them. The Chairman : I hope you do not think it a back handed compliment from the Chamber? Mr. Wallace : I referred particularly tc the gentleman who seconded the motion. Mr. Wallace then withdrew, and the ordinary business of the meeting proceeded.