NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13648, 16 January 1908, Page 4

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

TRADE IN THE EAST. The question of providing a small subsidy to enable regular communication to be maintained with the East seems to have been shelved too unceremoniously, and we are beginning to find that our Victorian neighbours have succeeded in stealing a march on us (says the Sydney Morning Herald). This, of course, is only a small item in a very big. problem, but it is foolish to neglect details, however trivial, which may play a part in a successful exploiting of Eastern markets. It is tolerably obvious that unless we have more regular communication we can never expect this trade to progress. It is as well to let subsidies alone as far as possible, and private enterprise ought, perhaps, to have been equal to this occasion. But no great principle is at stake and no great amount is involved. On the other hand it is rather a childish faith, in the light of past experiences, to expect that the subsidised Victorian line will be anything but detrimental to Sydney shippers. The neglect of the opportunity to come to a mutual understanding between the States concerned is to be regretted, for now it is not likely to be repeated. As it is the only point to take is that we cannot afford to be left behind in the race, and to protect ourselves from the ill effects of a rather unfederal proceeding we must go and do likewise. There is no reason to doubt that it is worth our while. The wider consideration of our Eastern trade possibilities is more important. Shippers have their own game to play and their own means of playing it. One consequence is that they are apt not to look at the matter with enough breadth of | spirit. But to properly develop our Eastern markets demands more than the available individual initiative, and the question ought to be taken seriously. It is true that we maintain a commercial agent in the East; but the information he acquires is of a generalised character, and it is, of course, available to Australia as a whole. The problem of pushing trade wants putting on a far more practical basis. As a continent we have a manifest destiny as a producer of foodstuffs, and Asia as part of her reception of Western ideas is likely to become more and more a wheat-consumer. We have keen rivals for this business in Canada and the United States; indeed, at present we hardly have more than a look in. The reason lies in lack of initiative. The shipper looks to the State for assistance to start the trade. The State looks to the shipper to give it the necessary impetus. And between the two we stagnate. The duty, of course, is divided; but we have gone so far in permitting Government aid in the building up of commerce that there is no logical reason for hesitating at this point.