THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS MONDAY, MARCH 16, 1931. BRITAIN AND ARGENTINA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20823, 16 March 1931, Page 8

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS MONDAY, MARCH 16, 1931. BRITAIN AND ARGENTINA.

Going to Buenos Aires with Prince George to open there the British Trade Exhibition, the Prince of Wales has shown yet again the depth and breadth of his interest in national enterprises. This visit differs from the one he paid to Argentina in 1925. Then he went on a State errand of courtesy and was officially the guest of the Argentine Government. This time he is more particularly the guest of the British community in the republic and his mission is identified with the activities of the British Chamber of Commerce in Argentina which has organised the exhibition. Associated with his visit, of course, is a manifest purpose of fostering international friendship, and there is undoubted significance in his being the centre of attention in a land originally and characteristically Spanish and in a capital that, next to Paris, is the largest Latin city in the world. The people of the republic will assuredly appreciate his coming to them, twice within six years, across seven thousand miles of ocean, and he has rightly emphasised the benefits of fostering interracial goodwill. This bond of fellowship across the Atlantic has: long existed. No ill-will seems to have been left from those faraway days of the Peninsular War whcji Great Britain sent an expedition to attack the Spanish colonies in South America; the chief outcome was an encouragement to Argentina to demand independence, and afterwards British aid played no small part in the enforcing of that demand. So it came about that the nucleus of a British community was established in Buenos Aires, and the institution responsible for this exhibition arose from that beginning when last century was young. The Spanish heritage abides in language, law and politics, but British influence has grown greatly, .until to-day it is an important factor in the republic. To use this influence as a .nexus of foreign friendship is worth while. A more precise purpose, however, is now in view.

It is definitely commercial. There has been given prominence, in the speech of the Prince, to the fact that trade is interchange. Some of the Dominions must necessarily look on Argentina as a competitor. Canada sees a rival in the growing of wheat for export. Australia and New Zealand are obliged to think of the republic in terms of wool and frozen meat. In other products, perhaps in sugar, there may arise keen competition ; already it exists to some extent in butter, alfalfa, tobacco and wine, although these things are produced in Argentina chiefly for home consumption. But consideration should be given to another aspect—the; opportunity presented of finding there an increasing market for British goods, including some produced in the Dominions —and this aspect is definitely related to the fact that trade is interchange. Argentina sends more to Britain than to Germany and the United States combined. There is therefore a disposition to buy from Britain in preference to other countries. But that preference needs stimulating. A recent report from the British Consul in Buenos Aires says, "Advantage should be taken of the prevailing good feeling toward British goods to advertise on a much more extensive scale, as that preference cannot be relied on to cause buyers or importers to seek out British goods." In a nutshell is thus expressed the business purpose of this exhibition. A particular instance is suggested by the reference of the Prince to exhibits in the motor trade. That avenue of trade was practically abandoned to the United States. Now, however, there is a British awakening to the possibilities of the Argentine market. The taste of its people runs to new things, and roads are being improved to provide for this modern innovation in transport ; so a promising field of British export business is opening. The standard of living in the republic is rising in many ways, with consequent increase of opportunity for British trade. To use that opportunity involves enterprise, on a scale instanced in this exhibition.

A special reason for looking to Argentina in this way is found in the extent to which British capital has flowed to the republic. Its British community numbers about 40,000—net a large influx when Spanish and Italian immigration figures are comparatively noted — but the aggregate of British capital invested is estimated at no less than £000,000,000. British banks, insurance companies, railways, merchants and industrialists are plentifully scattered about the country. All this means more than opportunity : it implies that in fostering trade with Argentina there is to be conferred a benefit on the country having so much at stake there. Before the war, three countries were in competition for supremacy in South American trade generally: Britain, Germany and the United States were in vigorous opposition, and in Argentina the advantage lay with Britain. Circumstances arising from the war have been beneficial to the

United States. Germany is rapidly making up lost, ground. The competition continues. A factor telling somewhat against the United States is the growth of South American resentment to dictation by Washington in the political sphere, but the triple rivalry must be expected to persist. To use every legitimate means of promoting commercial friendship between Argentina and the Empire has become highly desirable. As the Prince of Wales suggests, this is not the only avenue of reciprocal benefit, but it is one to be taken with certainty of mutual profit.