TRADE OF THE EMPIRE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19563, 16 February 1927, Page 11

TRADE OF THE EMPIRE.

PRIME MINISTER'S SPEECH. CONFIDENCE IN FUTURE. BETTER TIMES IN BRITAIN. [BT TEIEGXLiPH. —OWN COEIIESPOXDEXT. J WELLINGTON, Tuesday. Empire trade was the mainspring of , the Prime Minister's speech- at. a wel- ■ come tendered to hiEn and the head of the « Prime Minister's Department, Mr. F. D. i Thomson. ■by the Commercial Travellers" Association to-day. I | The president of the association* Mr. | T. E. James, in tendering a hearty wel- | come to the "guests, congratulated them ■ j on the excellent work they had done for ; New Zealand in connection with the >! Imperial Conference. The work performed ) after the conference in ascertaining the. »! requirements of the manufacturing in- | ° I dastries and to what extent the Do- • | minion could furnish raw materials with ■ ! the object of further advancing the in- • j terests of both countries, redounded to ■ | the credit- of New Zealand's representi atives. ' | The Prime Minister, in referring to the j depression in the trade,, said that other 1 j countries- were passing through the same ■ | period of difficulty. - He had 'gathered the impression .-in America--that the primary \ industries in the United States were j '"well. up sganst it—hard.'*• and it was | only the reflex of a, succession of inflated j years. In other words, there had Wen j over-capitalisation on the part of the fari mors and many of the manufacturers. Mr. | Coates again deprecated any feeling of j pessimism in regard to the future of the j Dominion, of England or the Empire. . | The reorganisation of Industry was going jon in the the Old Land. They were over--1 coming the effects of a Certain, aimmnt. j of industrial strife. Kothiag for Dominica to Fear. . j "There is in fact a determination to j work," said Mr. Coates, "and it all leads ' me to the conclusion that the future can | be faced with a firm confidence and that this Dominion in particular has' nothing to fear, provided that all of us carry our weight If we do that our people need have no fear but that the future will hold for -them. very, much, better •times-than recently. Better times in Great Britain and an increased purchasing power on the part of the .masses of the people will mean an extraordinary development of our output of produce and % greatly : increased trade with the Mothep Country, Ido not suggest there will be a trade boom, but - at present some of the British' shipbuildF. iag yards have four years'* work- in- front of them as hard as they can go. Others have two years', and others have 12 months' work, so that in that respect aJil that is necessai? is to get pn with it." Trade With Canada. Mr. Coates said, that any .suggestion made to the- Canadian Government to improve the trade relatiouships fctfUveea the countries waS 'ft ence responded- to, and the authorities showld "a readin&s to confer on the subject New Zealand apples, , butter, meat, aud hemp could be imported ■ to Canada wit!:cut affecting the. produtv 1 i tiori of that rotiniry and trade -in that connection • •nuhl In greatly s <''!• ml, The [ Government of New Zealand would &s.sist I the business men in this direction. Later | he hoped to further pursue the subject i ' in order to ascertain to what extent they could go in the direction indicated- The ; same remarks applied to trads with other northern countries. I ..Mr. Thomson- said, If# Jti>, Prime Minister had performed most valuable work - overseas apart from . the affiaaJ in making New Zealand and its products known in every place ha had visited. ■