TRADE WITH BRITAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19201, 15 December 1925, Page 10

TRADE WITH BRITAIN.

The appeal by Sir George Elliot that everything possible should be done by the Government and the individual in New Zealand to foster British industry, which has been welcomed and endorsed by the London Daily Mail, comes most opportunely at a season when everyone is spending most liberally and there is probably a tendency to neglect the preferential discrimination that most New Zealanders practise. It is, however, not merely advice for occasional attention but a statement of principles that should be constantly observed in national and individual policy. The subject received a larger exposition by Sir George Elliot in his speech at the annual meeting of the Bank of New Zealand last June, when he offered some practical suggestions for the modification of the preferential customs tariff in favour of Britain. He then emphasised a fact which should be remembered by every New Zealander, that as the United Kingdom provides the market for the bulk of the Dominion's products, anything that affects the trade of Britain affects New Zealand. New Zealanders, therefore, are almost as seriously concerned in the conditions existing in Britain as the people who are living there. But while Britain absorbs 80 per cent, of the exports from New Zealand, her sales to the Dominion are little more than half the country's total imports, while the rest of the Empire buys only 7 per cent, of our exports but sells us 27 per cent, of "our imports. Sir George Elliot's proposal contemplated a special reduction of duties on imports from Britain to enable them to secure the trade which now goes to other parts of the Empire. It involved an important modification in the national policy of Imperial preference, but it was justified by the almost complete dependence of New Zealand's future prosperity upon the commercial recovery of Britain. The imminence of the general election prevented any examination of his advice last session, but it will demand serious attention by the new Parliament. He could necessarily present only the outlines of a policy; it is the business of the Government to examine the admitted difficulties of its application, seek for ways of avoiding them, and prepare a concrete proposal for Parliament. That examination should already have been commenced, if the Minister and the officers of the Department of Industries and Commerce are alivr to their responsibilities. Individual effort to assist British industry need not wait for a revision of the tariff, while valuable results might be achieved by educational campaigns similar to those organised in Britain. There it has often been said that the whole policy of trade within the Empire depends upon the attitude or the nation's housewives. The Queen has appealed to them for their cooperation ; her example might be followed by the women's societies in New Zealand, who would perform a service of Imperial importance il they would lead a popular campaign to stimulate preference for British goods.