BRITAIN’S LOST TRADE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20905, 20 December 1929, Page 12

BRITAIN’S LOST TRADE.

AFTERMATH OF THE WAR

KEEN AMERICAN COMPETITION

TRADE COMMISSIONER'S SURVEY

(Special to Daily Times.) ([ WELLINGTON, December 19. I suppose that anyone who talks about trade at Homo and makes any sort of survey of intorimperial relations, particularly if he comes from my own country, nearly always starts from the consideration that although we in Great Britain do not live to cat-far from it—we must eat if we are going to live, and as the whole world knows now wc do not produce enough food for our 45,000,000 or so of people. We are, in fact, woefully short in some of our major foodstuffs. To take those of more immediate interest to New Zealand, we produce only one-seventh of the butter wc cat, one-fifth of the cheese, and. oncfourlh of the pig products. Wc arc thchcofre faced with the necessity of importing large quantities of foodstuffs in feeding ourselves.” With these words M r B. A. Paish, his Majesty’s Trade Commissioner to New Zealand, prefaced his address as chief guest at the New Zealand Club luncheon to-day. “We should, if cut off from supplies of food from outside, perish in a few short weeks, and that in spite of the fact that wc arc a great agricultural country,” added Mr Paish. “ People abroad sometimes fail to realise, however, what large amounts of agricultural produce are supplied from the Home grower, and sometimes it is held up as a reproach to us that we do not do more to feed ourselves. The balance of our foodstuffs has, of course, to be imported. Those imports have to be paid for, and we can pay for them only by our exports visible and invisible. We have to import from abroad every pound of cotton, rubber, jute, and oilseeds, 90 per cent, of our wool, large supplies of iron ore, and a thousand and one other articles of which we have inadequate supplies at Home, and these imports of raw materials also necessarily have to he paid for by more and more exports, visible and invisible. Unless there is to be a vast economic and social upheaval at Home there must necessarily be large imports of foodstuffs and raw materials for our industries.

“As to the actual values I do not propose to give details, but merely rough figures which you can carry in mind. We import £500,000,000 of foodstuffs, £278,000,000 Of raw materials, and £311,000,000 of manufactured goods and other items, n total of £1,005,000.000. Our visible exports are £732,000,000. leaving a balance of, roughly, £303,000,000 on the wrong side. Invisible exports arc the net balances received for interest on investments abroad, for shipping services, commissioners, and money market services inland, tourist traffic, and so on. Roughly, we get £300,000,000 as interest on investments £120,000,000 from shipping, and £80,000,000 for the balance. That brings us to £137,000,000 on the right side, which is the balance available for investment abroad. I am glad to say this balance has increased during the last three years from nothing to this figure, and there is reason to expect that it will continue to increase.

“ Of our imports, roughly 73 per cent, comes from foreign countries and 27 per cent, from the Empire, while of our ex ports 58 per cent, goes to foreign coun tries and 42 per cent, to ,the Empire. Now, 80 per cent, of our exports is manufactured goods, so that the im portanco of the Empire market with its large purchases of manufactured good* will be appreciated. “What is the cause of this? It really is the aftermath of the war. It is clear that we have not got back to the pre-wai position as regards our exports. We are still down by about one-sixth, and the reason is not far to seek. It is not that the British manufacturer or workmen is not trying. It is not that he is not studying his customers’ wants or wishes. It is due simply to the fact that while the British manufacturer was turning out munitions not only for our own armies, but for the armies of all our Allies, neutral natious got into our oversea markets and local Industrie* have sprung up which have changed the whole economic face of the world. We do not wish to squeal about it, but it would really have been a most remarkable thing if Great Britain had regained her pre-war position in the markets of the world in the light of what has happened during the war and post-war period. I suppose that the greatest competition we are now meeting, in some lines at any rate, is from the United States of America. Prior to the wai America was a comparatively small exporter of manufactured goods. Now she is practically on a parity with Great Britain, and while wc are exporting over twice as much per head, the larger population of the United States brings her almost up to our level.

“ Just a word about the existing state of trade in the United Kingdom. As I have said, we are considerably down in our total exports as compared with pre-. war. We have, however, considerable grounds for optimism, as there has been a gradual increase since 1924, and we are now exporting about 9 per cent, more goods than we did in that year. As regards New Zealand, we are, of course, easily her best customer. We take 74 per cent, of your total exports. percentage, however, is steadily falling, but I feel this fall is more apparent than real. The practice of buying wool in New Zealand instead of in London and consigning it direct to the country of use reduces, of course, the amount of the export as shown in the trade returns going to the Old Country, but it does not, of course, reduce the amount of Dominion goods consumed there. As regards imports into New Zealand, Great Britain holds about 46 per cent, of the trade compared with 9 per cent, held by the United States of America. Over the last seven years the percentage of the import trade held by Great Britain has been falling, while the percentage held by the United States of America has been increasing. This is due partly to the motor trade, but not by any means entirely, and there is no doubt that New Zealand is buying increasing quantities of American goods over a wide range. It is my duty to suggest to you that it is in your own interest that yon should, whenever possible, buy from your best customer.”