TRADE WITH AUSTRALIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22714, 29 October 1935, Page 10

TRADE WITH AUSTRALIA

GREATER RECIPROCITY URGED MUTUAL TOURIST INTERESTS (Per United Press Association) AUCKLAND, October 28. Close collaboration between Australia and New Zealand in export marketing •and the tourist industry was strongly advocated by Sir Frederick Stewart, Commonwealth Parliamentary Under-seere-tary for Re-employment and formerly Minister of Commerce, in an interview to-day on his arrival by the Monowai from Vancouver. He also expressed the firm opinion that both countries should make a real effort to remove the present hindrances to mutual trade in agricultural products. Sir Frederick, who represented the Commonwealth Government at the Waitangi celebrations early last year, resigned the portfolio of Commerce in November to carry out inquiries in Europe and America regarding national insurance schemes and to lead the Australian delegation to the International Labour Conference at Geneva. " In Britain I was pleased to note that there was a growing tendency to better collaboration in marketing between Australia and New Zealand," he said. " There is a real need for this because we make the same commodities and export them to the same consumers under the same condition. I hold that there is the same necessity for collaboration between our two countries as between the different States of the Commonwealth." Sir Frederick said he was greatly disappointed that the differences over the intercolonial trade in onions and potatoes had not been removed. " Practically every authority throughout the world suggests that a condition precedent of world recovery is greater elasticity in the interchange of trade between nations," he continued. "If this is so it only shows up more tragically the failure of these two neighbouring members of the British Commonwealth to settle a simple matter at issue between them. I say 'simple/ because with a complete knowledge of all the facts I refuse to believe that there is any justification for the difficulty unless one is going to consider the selfishness of the producer as such, and this applies to both sides of the Tasman Sea. I am hoping, however, that better counsels will prevail. "As the Minister who appointed Mr R. H. Nesbitt as Australia's representative in New Zealand, I am pleased to learn of the manner in which he has been received, and I trust that this will be one of the means by which the difficulties to which I have already referred may be removed." Speaking of the need for attracting more overseas tourists to this part of the world, Sir Frederick said his travels had added to his knowledge of the advantages which some countries gained from the tourist harvest. There was no reason why Australia and New Zealand should not participate increasingly in it, he The main difficulty clearly lay in the time occupied by sea passages. He had spent 24 days on the voyage from Vancouver to Auckland, whereas a wool steamer a few weeks ago had taken only 30 days to go from Sydney to Dunkirk, about twice the distance. It should be quite possible to reduce the time between Sydney and London to well under four weeks, and that between the Pacific coast and Sydney to two weeks and a-half. He knew that this would cost money and that it would involve financial cooperation between the Governments and the shipping companies. He believed, however, that the results would justify what might have been considered some time ago to be very generous expenditure. This question was one upon which he intended to report to the Commonwealth Government when he returned home.