BRITISH-COLONIAL TRADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13514, 12 August 1907, Page 4

BRITISH-COLONIAL TRADE.

When Mr. R. J. Jeffray, the Imperial ' Trade Commissioner to Australasia, ' visited New Zealand last year, it was > pointed out to him that a consider- : able amount of colonial trade was lost i to British manufacturers by the ; greater acumen and obligingness of foreign traders in meeting local demands in a variety of small lines. In , his report, which has now been pub- , lished by the British Board oi Trade, i Mr. Jeffray makes a special point of this notorious British weakness. . While of opinion that in certain main lines British trade is not seri- • ously menaced in the colonial markets, he states that British traders , on the whole have deliberately chosen to restrict themselves to a small number of great main lines of production, , leaving the smaller and cheap lines | largely to foreigners." What British , manufacturers do not appear to comI prehend is the very great and increasing aggregate value of these smaller lines of goods, which are constantly and rapidly increasing in number and importance. It is exceedingly de- [ | pressing to the colonies, which are all desirous of promoting British trade, | to find that the manufacturers of the United Kingdom view with indiffer--1 ence and even contempt colonial de--1 mands which Continental and American manufacturers strive eagerly to 1 supply and to develop. Most of, ' these smaller lines, from their very ■ character, are outside of any present ' possibility of local production, which ' is much more likely to press upon the " great main lines to which British ; manufacturers so generally devote ' themselves. We have thus an anomalous situation created : colonial - protective tariffs tend to affect Bri- ! tish rather than foreign producers, > and our Imperial preferences are i largely thrown away. It is to be ■ hoped that the warning of Mr. Jefr fray will help to produce a much re- ; quired change in British commercial - methods ;in which connection the api pointment of British commercial : agents in the colonies should help to } assist small British manufacturers in - acquiring reliable knowledge of colo- : nial demands, and in afterwards ) bringing their goods to the notice of i colonial customers.