THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, June 23, 1937. TRADE WITH AUSTRALIA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23224, 23 June 1937, Page 8

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES WEDNESDAY, June 23, 1937. TRADE WITH AUSTRALIA

The concern which has been expressed by the president of the Auckland Manufacturers' Association over " the uneven nature," as he describes it, of the trade between Australia and New Zealand will be shared with him by all sections of the manufacturing interests in the Dominion. It is not on the evidence of statistics only, though this evidence is the most conclusive, that the fact that the balance of trade between Australia and New Zealand lies heavily in favour of the Commonwealth is established. The manifests of the cargo carried on the steamers engaged in the trans-Tas-man service show that, while freight is almost regularly shut out from vessels leaving Australia for this country, it frequently happens that steamers despatched from New Zealand for the Commonwealth carry only a few hundred tons. The cold figures afford no cause for satisfaction in the Dominion. The exports of New Zealand produce to Australia last year represented a value of £1.619,806. The imports of goods of Australian origin were valued at. £4,941,313. The balance in favour of Australia, when re-exports were included, was £3.376,861. In the preceding year the balance in favour of Australia was £2,513,646. And the returns for 1937 promise no better result. In the first four months of the year the exports to Australia amounted to £659,807 in value (New Zealand produce being represented to the extent of £615,616) and the imports from Australia totalled £2,012,276, so that the adverse balance at the end of April was £1,352,469. Of the goods that are imported into the Dominion from Australia a considerable proportion is known to consist of manufactured articles which might, and probably would in certain circumstances, be secured from the United Kingdom. In other words. Australia is gaining trade in New Zealand at the expense of Great Britain, which affords the market for most of the exports from the Dominion. This is a fact that acquires considerable significance in the light of the " simple philosophy " of Mr Savage, which has led him to say on more than one occasion, during his present visit to the Mother Country, that " every shilling Britain spends in

New Zealand is a shilling with which to buy British manufactures." There was a great gap last year between the amount spent by Great Britain in the purchase of New Zealand products and the amount spent by New Zealand in the purchase of British goods, and the gap is one that will tend to increase if the imports of Australian manufactures by New Zealand continue to expand as they have been expanding. We have, however, yet to hear of the result of the negotiations which the Minister of Finance has, during his prolonged absence from the Dominion, been conducting with a view to the development of a two-way trade between Great Britain and New Zealand. Members of the present Government are not usually reticent about their achievements, but the public may be excused if it is becoming somewhat impatient to learn what Mr Nash has accomplished.