EMPIRE MARKETING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21562, 5 August 1933, Page 10

EMPIRE MARKETING

During the Ottawa Conference the Dominions' delegates were informed that after September of this year the British Government would not continue to shoulder the financial responsibility of the Empire Marketing Board, upon which about half a million had been expended annually. The organisation was set up in 1926 as a return to the Dominions for the preferences granted by them. With the granting of preference by Britain it was held that the Motherland was no longer under an obligation to continue aid in this form. On behalf of New Zealand, Mr. Coates was able to promise a contribution representing money made available by the • producers' boards. The matter was referred to the Committee on Economic Consultation and Co-operation, which reported in May. It made no recommendation for continuing the existence of the board, its proposals being that some of the work of collecting and distributing information should be done in future by the Imperial Economic Committee and that other machinery should be devised for assisting and co-ordinating the work of bodies engaged in" scientific research. The Economic Committee, it was suggested, should be provided with about £24,000 a year, this sum to bo cbntributed on a unit basis by the whole Empire, New Zealand's share being computed at £1920. Evidently future Empire marketing activities are to bo limited to this committee that is to be so modestly financed. For the task the amount is absurd. The New Zealand Meat Producers' Board spent £21,000 in publicity in Britain last year, apart from the cost of representation and direct trade promotion. The change from board to committee, however, is not so drastic as might be supposed from the withdrawal of the vote of £500,000 to the Marketing Board. A large proportion of that sum was not expended in tho direct furtherance of trade, as was the original intention, but in supporting research, most of which, there is not the slightest doubt, will be continued through Government grants voted direct to the respective institutions or through other agencies. In 1932-33 the Marketing Board spent only £62,000 on publicity, the largest items being posters and exhibitions, £16,000 on cinema activities and £II,OOO on "market promotion." Thuß research and not marketing has been the chief function of the board.