CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21984, 20 June 1933, Page 10

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

MEETING' OF COUNCIL A meeting of the council of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce was held last night; present—Messrs <L- G. Dykes (president), S. Lawn, H. J. Lousley, G. Simpson, jun.; A. Mumford, P. 0. Smellie, R. C. Burgess, C. B. Barrowclough, J. P. P. Cloustbn, H, ,C. Campbell, H, L. Gibson, A. H. Allen, E. E. Nicolson, T. C. Boss, JVM.! White, James Begg, W. D. Lambert,: N. Wood, W. H. Brent, D. W. M'Cay, I. M'Farlane, W. E.. Earnshaw, and the secretary (Mr H. P. West). The president welcomed to the meeting Mr Malcolm Stewart, a past president of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, who is now connected with Messrs Kempthorne, Prosser, and Co., Ltd., in Dunedin. , EXECUTIVE’S REPORT. : The report of the executive ivas as follows:, — _ ' ; .. •, > ■ ■ New Zealand Exports to’United Kingdom. —The resolutions adopted by the .council, on April 10 regarding the entry of our exports into Great Britain was forwarded to the Associated Chambers together with replies received from other chambers. We are iiow advised that the matter was considered 'by the executive of the Associated. Chambers, when our resolution was endorsed, and it was decided to approach thfc New Zealand Government and request that the matter be taken up with the British Government. The resolution also received the full support of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce.

State Trading in New Zealand Wines. — A letter from Mr James J. Joyce, Auckland, has been largely circulated drawing attention to the (Government activity in the production of wines at the horticultural station, Te Kauwhata, and stating that hitherto the Government have been reluctant to offer its wines for sale and thus fompete,with private enterprise and engage in the liquor trade. Through an arrangement with the Department of- Agriculture, however,, Mr Joyce advises himself as the supplier of these wines, and quotes prices. It would appear, therefore, that the Government intends competing with private enterprise in the wine business. A meeting of those engaged in the wine and spirit business in the city was called by the chamber and th'e. matter, fully discussed, when it was decided to refer it to the Minister of Agriculture and the Attorney-general and strongly protest against thfe action of the departmeftt. The advertisement in connection -with the,.wine appears to be a contravention of the Licensing Act;- i, We are now waiting to hear what the Minister has to say in regard to the matter before' proceeding further. . ; ' V i • Dunedin Post Office.—A local firm has received/ a wire from Auckland which states that many other important works in the North: Island may be- proceeded with before the,Dunedin Post Office. The Acting ,Prime Minister and Sir Charles Statham have been communicated with and their attention drawn to the promise made by the Prime Minister last November that the Dunedin Post Office would take priority- over any other Government buildings of any magnitude in the Dominion.

’ Sales Tax.—Representations were made by the executive oh behalf of a firm which had posted a cheque for sales tax due •April 28 last on that date, but as the cheque wag not received by the Customs Department until the following day, April 29, discount was not allowed. _ The Minister has since advised that in the case of payment for the period ended March 31 'discount will be allowed for cheques posted on April 28 and received the following day, but this is not to be regarded as ,ji precedent. , ~ Taxation on Mutual Insurance Companies.—The question of _ taxation on mutual insurance companies has been brought before the chamber by the Otago and Southland Fire and Accident Underwriters’ Association. The matter is being gone into by the executive, but inquiries are not yet complete. The president said that only a small portion of the work of the executive was contained in the report. In regard to the taxation of mutual insurance companies the matter was now before the executive, which was awaiting replies from two companies. The report was adopted. INSTITUTE OF COMMERCE.

The Wellington Chamber forwarded replies that had been received from; various chambers regarding the establishment of a New Zealand Institute of. Commerce. The Wellington body considered that in view of the opinions received the matter should be made the subject of a remu for the’ conference of (be Associated .Chambers of Commerce to be held at Wanganui in October. . , The letter was received, and it was lelt to Mr Barrowclough to prepare a reim f for the conference.

WHEAT TO "FREE” MILLERS. The president said the matter of supplies of wheat to “free” millers bad been before the executive for a long time. It was represented by a milling company that it was not getting a siirncient quota of wheat to keep its mill

going for more than a short period. The executive wired to the Minister of . Agriculture setting out the positiop. At that time there were certain mills in Canterbury also in communication with the Minister,, For some time it seeined that satisfaction had been obtained, and Canterbury was satisfied, but local interests had again approached the chamber, and the matter had been, referred, to a subcommittee, consisting of Messrs J, Begg, C. J. Wood, and C. B. Barrowelough, who had prepared a report. ~ , Mr Begg presented the report, .which was as follows: — 7 The committee has : examined the Gazette notice dated January 6, 1933, containing the Order-in-Council setting out the Board of Trade (wheat) regulations. The power to make these regulations is authorised under section 26 of the Board of Trade Act, - 1910. The committee is, however, of the opinion that the powers given to the Wheat Purcha’se Board are autocratic and should never have been granted. In any case the board could have arranged for the disposal 1 of wheat without the imposition of such drastic regulations. The committee is agreed ithat the board \ is acting within its rights under the regulations. In order to induce millers to make the bulk of their purchases early: the board undertook that , they would only sell a sufficient quantity of wheat that would ordinarily be required to supply the Dominion’s needs of flour. They, therefore, allotted to the different mills certain quantities based on last year’s turnover. In most cases this wag quite satisfactory to the millers, concerned. In other cases, however,’ where millers had only been started during last season, and in the case of one mill in particular which had only started operations this season, the nllocations of'wheat were much below what they .considered their actual requirement, and certain .hardships must result if it has not already done so. The committee considers that the millers could easily have been induced to buy their supplies early by the ordinary sliding scale of prices by which Id a bushel is added from month to month. If the millers had not bought there surely would have been little difficulty in the board arranging finance against warrants from the banks or some other financial institution^ The board maintains that if flour is placed on the market at reduced prices and a price-war commenced wheat prices would have to be reduced. We cannot see how this would be the case, however, considering that the board had definitely already fixed the' price of wheat to the mills. There is no indication that a price-war would have resulted, but on the other hand there may have been some competition in the quality of the flour and this would .surely have been to the_ benefit of everybody concerned, including the consumer. A better quality of flour, if it could bo produced from New Zealand wheat, and which certain millers maintain could be manufactured, would cut out the necessity for importing foreign flour for mixing purposes', which would automatically benefit the farmer, in that some more of our own wheat would he gristed and the loss on any wheat that had to be exported would be reduced.

A serious aspect , of the matter, said Mr Begg, was that the Wheat Purchase Board, in going outside its duties iy regulating the milling industry, was socialising the business; it was State Socialism riebt through. The miller was relieved from anxiety as to his output; his market was 1 secured for him, and competition, both of price and quality, was eliminated. Under these conditions, the public was sure to suffer. , There was no reason why a miller should not fight for his market in quality and price, as other traders bad to do. The adoption of State Socialism in connection with the industry was one of the most serious aspects of it from thn chamber's point of view. Mr Campbell, seconding the motion, asked Mr Begg if he thought wheal should have been exported to the East when our own millers could not get the wheat they required for their trade. Mr Begg, in reply, said his private opinion was that wheat should not have been exported. They bad short seasons in New Zealand when they had to import wheat. The policy in New Zealand had

been against dumping, and if New Zealand was going to approve of dumping when she wished to dump and disapprove of it when. it suited her, slid was hopelessly inconsistent. , r - ' .The motion was agreed to. POTATOES FOR SOUTH AMERICA. The president said that at last meeting Mr Sheed promised-to look into the export of potatoes to South America. Mr Sheed had been unable to attend the meeting, but he had sent an interesting letter on the.matter. The letter was read by the secretary, as follows: — With further reference to the matter brought up by Mr H. C. Campbell regarding the export of potatoes and other produce to South America, I I have now to advise as under:— One thousand tons of potatoes have been shipped from Lyttelton ,by the Waimana for discharge at Montevideo, and another 1000 tons go by the Pakeha at the end of this month. It is understood that the South American demand this year is on account of the failure of the crop there. It would appear that Uruguay (Montevideo) offers the best prospects for a market for New Zealand potatoes, but the trade ’is intermittent, the success or failure of the local crop and competition from other countries being important factors. As certain vessels are now going Home round the Horn, New Zealand is placed in a very favourable position when trade is offering. Potatoes are grown extensively in South America. The Argentine exports potatoes, in some years upwards of 50,000 metric tons. Brazil is also a producer of potatoes. During the year 1929-30 1 the' potato yield was 124,960 tons, and sweet potatoes 228,600 tons. (New Zealand’s average production is - in the vicinity of 120,000 tons per annum.) On the other hand, some. States in South America import potatoes. The United Kingdom exported potatoes to South America as under (in tons): —

The total quantity of potatoes imported into Uruguay during the years 1928, 1929, and the first six months of 1930 were as under:— 1928 32,941 metric tons. 1929 43,180 metric tons. 1930, six months 23,813 metric tons. Venezuela imported during the year 1931 7563 tons of potatoes, and during 1932 6401 tons. Panama Republic imported during 1931 2989 metric .tons of potatoes. Regarding Valparaiso and the West Coast, my head office advises th#* arrangements have been made by the Canadian National Steamships whereby goods destined to the West Coast of South America, West Coast of Central America, and the West Coast of Mexico, and transported in Canadian National steamers, will be delivered to lines comprising the United States Atlantic and Golf West Coast of Mexico Central and South America Conference. In this matter, therefore, shippers from New Zealand, or shippers from the above territory to New Zealand, are in a, position to obtain through bills of lading, through rates, and quick despatch.

It is, perhaps interesting to note that 1 lie potatoes now going forward to Montevideo arc packed in cental bags so as to permit of their being readily handled by mule transport in certain parts of Uruguay. The letter was received, and Mr Sheed was thanked for the information he had obtained. GENERAL. Regarding the suggestion made at the last meeting that second class sleeping cars should be put on the Main Trunk, the Auckland Chamber wrote drawing attention to the fact that that matter had been brought before the Railway Commission which sat in 1930, and it considered that the sleeping car traffic was not remunerative. —The secretary pointed out that the commission’s report showed that the revenue for a sleeping car on the journey between Wellington and Auckland was approximately 67 per cent, of that of an ordinary car. A letter was received from the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire forwarded containing an

agenda for the Empire congress. It showed that matters to be discussed are imperial education, arbitration, bankruptcy, petroleum, the film industry, banking, currency, and .exchange, fixed date for Easter, tourist traffic, etc.

1928. 1929. 1930.1931. To Uruguay 1132 6284 780 21 To Argentine 103 7379 193 10