AUCKLAND AND THE ISLAND TRADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10411, 8 April 1897, Page 4

AUCKLAND AND THE ISLAND TRADE.

The Premier on his return froin , Australia tod us of a great many things which he had found out in which New Zealand was at a disadvan- / tage as compared with the Australian colonies, and vhich he was determined to remedy. Apparently lie hud beep quite surprised at finding out thai , Sydney had mors frequent direct com- "/• munication witl Loudon t|ian any v port in New Zealand, that freights; :: were lower from any Australian port ? to London than with us, and a nurabet ' of other things which everybody here;', ' has known all along, and indeed which S. nobody needed to go to Australia tc, find out. But tfe great distinction m this case is that fir, Seddon has under';, taken to get these drawbacks reme- •■'■:> died. We observe that some o)fK ; . the Australian pipers are inclined 7; to jeer at our Premier for what he lias' ■•« pledged himself to accomplish; but then V they do not know the man. It is } rather strange that while Mr. Seddon .. was investigating in Australia our dij> advantages, and reaching the confident. • conclusion that he could remedy them, ■;■; he entirely missed one subject of great importance to the colony, and i' especially to Auckland, in which wear* J being pressed to the wall. It is doubt- j-\ ful if in respect to the lines of steam vcommunication or freights, or anything' <i of that kind, Mr. Seddon can effect ./• - anything, but in this matter he might :•■ do something. He lias, however, done :, nothing. He evidently thinks that nothing ought to be done. And indeed so far as he has hitherto attempted to effect any change, it has been in the wrong direction, and quite against Olfr interests. We refer to the Island trade, of which Auckland is the natu- • ral centre, but which is being absorbed by Sydney. That Sydney is now becoming the headquarters of the houses doing the Island trade is quite certain. The secretary of the Tonga Trading Company, Mr. J. Mitchell, 1 recently stated in the Sydney Morning Herald"Sydney will do the bulk of the Tonga trade under our direct steam service. Hitherto New Zealand has had the pull, but since the Sydney markets were opened people find that they can , do very much better at Sydney, and -\ the trade of those islands will certainly \ come this way." We in New Zealand ! endeavour to compete with Sydney by J a system of drawbacks on our Customs' ■■'■}■ duties. But a legion of disadvantage Jq attach to us. On some articles draw- j backs are not allowed, and even when '~■•: these are obtained on goods re-exported,' ''.;>> there is attending the process such an ;| amount of trouble, annoyanse, and : | delay as to amount to a serious.,;]; monetary burden. In Sydney, on the | other hand, when goods are landed:; ',: destined for the Islands, there is no | trouble. The Customs do not _ take cognisance of them. They are simply J'-i; transhipped to the Island steamers. /. What must be the result of this differ- % ence, operating day after day, upon the • | trade 1 Why, its bodily transference to | Sydney. In fact, at the present time, \<| the Auckland houses in the Island trad* 1 purchase in Sydney, biscuits, Southard-. J ware and soft goods for transmission to j? the islands, as well as nearly the whole $ of the other goods required. The only ; \ way in which the present_ Liberal .| Government have taken cognisance of J the Island trade is to endeavour to|f injure it, A year or two ago a proposal v| was made by the Government to place* 4 duty on all the Island fruit brought into ; A Auckland. They did not succeed ill the M effort, but in all probability it will be §& made again. /This change in direction of the Island .trade that we have spoken W of must havebeen obvious to Mr. Seddpn|| while he was in Australia, because, | notice was taken of it in the Sydney papers, But he lias said nothing about M it. Instead he has spoken about doing.|| something mysterious to influence the/|] plans of the P, and 0. Company. WM may incidentally call attention to tne object lesson which this creation 0-J| Sydney into the great emporium $M Australasian trade has on the question -m of Freetrade and Protection. Commerce. M in Sydney is free; at Melbourne and ttjf all the New Zealand ports it is tied M | and checked in a thousand ways. m ... yet the Go'vernmentof New Zealand,*") M presumedly the majority of its peOP|s M think that the readiest method m increasing our commercial prosperity g : to render our protection system .-DM" stringent. Sydney is not only m ,FA§| ' progress as an emporium of trade m | . as a manufacturing centre. And: row t . rally so, because manufacturers,?!)*" obtain their materials at the i cheap** rate and with the greatest facility... -,