TRADE AFTER THE WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16876, 14 June 1918, Page 7

TRADE AFTER THE WAR.

NEED FOR RE-ORGANISATION.

Industrial and trade organisation after the war were dealt with in the course of an interview yesterday, by Mr. G. T. Milne, who has just been appointed senior British Trade Commissioner in Canada.

"It seems to me," said Mr. Milne, "that after the end of the war there maybe some modification as regards British export trade. It is at least conceivable that we may find certain industries in Great Britain organising in the way of forming an export association for their overseas trade. Nothing has been more remarkable since the outbreak of the war than the evidence to be found on every hand of a desire for closer co-operation among manufacturers. They have come to recognise that they should present a common front in the face of foreign competition.

"It is." Mr. Milne stated, "only by the. manufacturer and the English exporter (jetting accurate knowledge of the requirements of the Dominion markets that foreign competition can be successfully met. The problem confronting our commercial communities is the double one of efficient production and effective distribution. These and other cognate problems are receiving the close attention of the Overseas Trade Department. Its officers are hopeful that with the enormously increased capacity for production which will result from "the overhauling of British machinery consequent upon the war, and the corresponding reorganisation of the national life, Britain will be able to maintain and extend her export trade in competition with the world. " If." he added, " the various outlying units of the Empire can be so organised as to keep up the steady stream of raw materials that our manufactories require, I do not think we need fear the consequences of any foreign competition. This is particularly true of some of the tropical dependencies as it is of course obvious that in some of the self-governing Dominions the war has given an immense impulse to local manufacture, and that there is a strong desire towards a greater degree of self-containment."