DUNEDIN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2286, 23 December 1897, Page 15

DUNEDIN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

ADDRESS BY THE CANADIAN TRADE COMMISSIONER.

A special meeting of (he Dunedin Chamber of Commerce was held on the 7-th inst. for the purpose of heiriog rm address from the ' Hon. J. 8. Larke, Trade Commus'oner from ; Canada. Mr G. L. Dsnnisbon, president of the . . chamber, occupied" the chair, anil Dr Hocken, . JMessrs dT B. TheomiUj P. R. Siijjood, J. H. Morrison, fit: B. Sbuckiock, A. C. B?gg, T. R. JPfeher, T. Browo, W. Stevenson, A S. Puter\wn, B. Hal'ensteii), R. Gleudinin?. W. Hislop,' J. A. Stewart, G. H. Oatway, H. D. Stronach, J J. T. Mack«rraa, W. Emery, K. Ramsay, J. ] Davie, W. E. Reynolds, S. G. Smith, and J. M. Ritchie were also present. ! , The Chairman, in introducing Mr Lsrke, said tbab New Zealand was always on the lookout for new market?. 'Mr Larke had in bis brief, rapid visit to this colony been able to see a little of what we could grow and make, and, of course, knew what Canada could grow and make. The Hon. J. 8. Larks Raid he was under a great obligation to the president of the chamber for granting Mm an opportunity of meeting the principal business men of the city. He had met s number of people who, owing to other engage- - xnents, were unable to be present that afternoon. In explanation of Ms mission to Australasia, he said that Canada did not propose to give any " terms to any one oolony that would not be given to any other of the British colonies . under similar conditions. Canada had two purposes in view. In the flrft place she wanted trade with the other ~ colonies, because she thought that she could make money cut of the exchange. Canada was rather selfish ; she did not believe in doing business for fun, and if they wanted anyone to do anytbiog for - nothing thfy had better not ask Canada. Another thing was that in Canada they werelmperialitts.. The loyalty of Canada to the Empire was scarcely understood in Australia. ' A g- eat portion of the peoj-le of Canada were not of British origio. One and a-half ' million of the people were of French origin, ' who still spoke the French laogu«g<3 and whose - laws were still the old Free eh laws ; and another large section of the population was born in Germany ; but all these people were loyal- to what we called the Empire, and were so out of self- interest. He believed that in Canada and these colonies there was the most complete system of self-government in the world, and, with the exception of Norway and Sweden," Canada owned, in proportion to her population, more shipping engaged in foreign trade tban i &ny other nation in the world ; but ehe was too j poor to maintain a fleet to look after her foreign trade or an army to protact htr commerce, threat Britain was doing tbat for her, and -Cantdians would be foolish if they were not loyal to the Empire. Therefore they were Imperiali»t*, and they wanted not only to be 3o?al to Great Britain, but also to establish relations with the whole Empire. They believed that sentiment was an excellent thing ; but

after al> the Empire was going to be largely -cemented by trade. He dared say it wonld be -mid in New Zealand, " How can there ba *oy trade between Canada and New Zealand — -first, on account of the great distance ; and secondly, becauce the two countries are pro.dueing very much the «ame things and are competing ia the tame things in Great Britain ? " 'That was exactly the same feeling as prevailed in Canada before he left, but he pointed -out that the Australians were exporting of mineral — principally gold and tilrer — one-half of the value of all the things thab were sent oat from Canada, and there were some manufactnrers in Canada who would taVe gold and •ilver in exchange for their products if they 'Could get nothing better. — (Laughter.) There mere, however, two Canadas — the smaller -Canada on the Pacific Coast, west of the Rockies, and the larger Canada, east of the Rockies. The larger Canada was producing i very* mnch the tame things *s Netv Zea'and vras, and was exporting to England wheat and j% little of ioni» other grains, live itosk, timber, food products, frnit, and other articles. -On fcha wAgfc eide of the Bookies was tht oro*

vicce of British Columbia, and there lambering, mining, and fishing were the great industiies. Comparatively speaking itwas sparsely peopled, but the population "was now increasing rapid'y. The whol-aof that country away north to Klondike was a mineral country and there was going to be a great development. The people there had ronae farm lands, bat it was an' extrtrnely mountainous country, .and although there were some rich valleys and excellent land the latter was covered with immeuse trees, and the result was that the outpnt of agricu'tural produce was not keeping up with the demand, and they had to import their food products, which came psrlly from Eastern Canada and partly from the United Stat'S. It seemed to him that New Zealand could supply certain products which'all Canada demanded. The first of thece was kauri gum, which came indirectly into Canada through the United States, and another was wool. Canada did produce Jongwool*, bub all its fine wools were imported from London. He thought that Canada might make money by buying these articles directly and shipping them directly to Canada, and th&t New Z»a'and could do better by selling directly, as certain middlemen's profits wonld thus be avoided. In Eist Canada they shipped live sheep to the United States ; in the wett they bought live •beep from the United SUfce*. They shipped their live cattle, and the result was thab they did not pro servo meats in Canada and they bought hides. New Zealand produced hides and New Zealand preserved ine»t#, and why Canada cculd net buy from New Ze»land he did not know. It seemed to him that with a direct route New Zealand ctnld m»ke a market by dealing directly with Canada. The canned mutton, also, that was used in Canada was bought in London, while on the western side of Canada all > the preserved meats were coming from Chicago. Although New Zea'and was 7000 miles from British Columbia and Eart Canada was 2500 miles away, New Zealand could get at British Columbia cheaper than Etst Canada could,. for the freight on the 7000 miles by water was less than the freight fur the 2500 miles by landi and if there were no duties -on the New Zf aland manufactures the manufacturers in this colony could gat at British Columbia better than their own manufacturers in East Canada. The difficulties in the way of New Zealand getting that market were several. There was always the initial difficulty of getting a new market. Then there was this other difficulty in the casa of frczen meats. The Government of Canada sent the Hoo. Mr Bowell in 1893 to Australia, and on his return he said Canada must show the Australian people that she wanted to encourage trade, and the duty on frozen mutton was reduced from 3 cents per lb to 7- 10 th of a cent per lb. The duty on live sheep was 1 cent per lb, so that the duty ohfn zen mutton was reduced below the duty on the mutton of live sheep. Atth&t time a financial pauic set in in tho Uuited States which affected 500 banks, and these bagan to mtke demands upon their constituencies. The duty had been taken offr.wool,.' the growers became frightened and the banks became anxious, and sheep were sent into the market at 50 per cent, below their original value, and the result was that the duty on live mutton became £ cent, per lb, as ag*inat 7- 10th cent, per lb on frozen mutton. With regard to preserved meats, three shipments were made f<om Sydney, but they were discontinued when the third resulted in a Io8«. Chicago had reduced its prices until Sydney " quitted," but if tbe trade h»d b«en continued the Chicago m*n was not in it far nothing, and he would mtke terms. The oolouies were obliged to compete with Ctrcago in Great Britain, wheie it cost them more to lay down their goods than it cost Chicago, while it oost Chicago more to lay down its goods in British Columbia than it would cost New Zealand. Then, so far as New Zealand was concerned, there might be a trade in fruits. East Canada was a great apple-producing country, but British Colambi* did not produce enough fruits for her own consumption ; she did not produce apples that would keep all the year round. Tasmania was tending her apples to British* Columbia, and the time would come when British Columbia would, in October, November, and December, send apples to Sydney, while in the other months these colonies would send them to British Columbia. He had seen that a large portion of this colony was admirably adapted for the production of fruit, and be saw no reason why there should not be an exchange between Canada and New Zealand in food products. There wa», however, another difficulty ia the way of New Zealand people. Under tbe tariff recently passed the Dominion Government had given to England and to all countries giving free access to Canadian products a preference in imposing only 75 per cent, of the ordinary duties, and the reiult was that New South Wales gcods, after June next, vroald go to Canada 25 per cent, cheaper tban the goods of New Zealand or tbe other eoloniei. Now, he had no instructions to negotiate with the Now Zealand Government for reciprocity. The New Zealand people did not acctpfc the proposition that had been made by Mr Ward in Canada, but he thonght he bad the right to say that if the New Zealand people wished to hare any reciprocity in trade any proposition from tho Government of this colony would receive the most kindly and favourable consideration. For tbe putt 50 years tbe policy of Canada's neighbour?, the United States, had been that they believed in selliug anything thty could to anybody on earth, but thty did not believe in buying from anybody on earth if they could help it. The Canadians on the other band believed that there mint be trade both ways. He thought that a tax on commercial travellers had absolutely been a detriment to the wholesale trade in Now Zealand — (hear, hear) — and iV had debarred the representatives of the Canadian manufacturer* ftom visiting Ntir

Zealand— where, however, their goods were being offered., H<3 was gad the Government were going to remove that tax, for he contended that the manufacturer wbo came here and offered a variety of goods which the New Zeilaud importer coull sell better than he was doing now, was rendering the latter ai great a service- as if he bought off him, becuue he was enabling him to make custom. There were., he remarked, only two or three Naw Zealand firms — one of them being the Mosgiel Company — which had sent travellers to Canada', and one of them had imposed on the traveller tbe restriction — the most ridiculous the speaker had ever heard of — that he must confine himself to Vancouver, which was a towa of only recent growth. His (Mr Ltrke'*) business was to report to his Government, but he kfpt up cortesponden.ee with people as to business in these colonies, and he advised them, and he advised every Canadian manufacturer, to come out here, see the people, and make arrangement for the lcc&l handling of bis goods. He had been through one of the Duuedin uaills, and had observed that the wool leu industry was here developed most marvellously. Canada could not sell woollen goods in New Zealand, although he believed that some lines — not enough, however, to warrant a trade — were being made in Canada which were not being made- in New Ze»l*nd. This colony had the wools at its feet. He believed that it might exchange its woollen products for the cotton goods of Canada. Then, Canada was making boots and »hoe 3of a kind th&t was not being made in New Zealand.

Mr Emery : We are sellling them now in Dunedin.

The Hon. J. S. Laiikb : And New Zealand was making boots and shoe) that were not made in Canada. He believed that an exchange of thene articles might be brought about. Th«re was, therefore, the foundation of a trade, but there were one or two difficulties in the, way. They waited efficient mail connection*^a ' rapid ocean service and cab'.e*. The Canadian Government paid a subsidy of £25.000 to Messrs Jamas Huddarfc and Co. for theyaur couver route, but subsidies wculd not rub "a' line — there musb be freight. Canada was ftlljing the ships at her end, and could fill them m~re thau monthly if fhe could get them •, bat, unfortunately, New ZesUnd was not sending anything back, or to little that it wa? not paying the ships, and the Canadian good* had, in consequence, practically to pay freight both ways in order to keep the ships running. He believed that if New Zealand gave assistance the ships would return her everything she gave. In the second plac3, there must be a coble. Cabling today between theie c loniea and Canada was too de>r, and when he oame out here he anticipated that the Australian colonies would be pushing Canada on the subject. The policy of the present Government in Canada was a cautious one, and Canada would geb little out of the Pacific cable relatively to the other c*ble interests. He had heard the statement ridiculed which he had made to the moruiog paper — that it would pay Queensland, New South Weles, Victoria, and New Zealand to. construct the Pacific cable and maintain it at tbeir own expense, — but he adhered to it. He pointed out that the growth of cabling in the oolonies was extraordinary, having doubled in live years. A reduction, on an average, of 2s per word on 4,000,000 words paid for by the colonies over the Eastern Extension cable would represent £400,000 a year on • cabling between Aus'ralia and Great Britiiu.

Mr Ritchie : How about the cable paying ?

The Hon. J. S. Larke : The cost of laying the Pacific cable,- ac far as it had been estimated by contractor*, was £1,500,000, and that money could be raised on the credit'first of the company and then of the colonies interested at 2^ per cent.' The cost of maintenance aucl the working expenses,- with £50,000 a year fcr interest, would bs £125,000 a year ; whereas the saving would be £400.000 a» compared with present cabling. If New Zealainl paid her proportion of the £125,000 per capita her contribution would be not 'quite £20,000, and she would save over £40.000. He was correct, therefore, in saying that it would pay the colonies to construct and maintain the cable if they did not get a shilling back. Canada wculd -not do one-tenth of the cabling that the United States would do, but the United States Government would not contribute a shilling. They could understand why Canada should hang back on the proposal, and he could not understand why the Australian colonies, except South Australia, should ; but-, if the Australian colonies said they wanted the line, and Mngland joined ia it, he was prepared to say that Canada would do her share ia undertaking the construction and maintenance.* And the Canadians meant it, for if they were to have trade they must have cheap cob'ing, and there was no other scheme ia the world tbat would cheapen cabling so much as the Pacific cable would. He "believed that if the business psople of the colonies would speak the line would be constructed, aod no one would rejoice more than Canada. In concluding, Mr L%rke said his conviction after visiting the colonies was that trade could be done. The Canadian people were determined to do their share, and the people here could do their share if they cared to do it and used the means for doing it.— (Applause.)

The Chairman said he was sure the meeting had listened with pleasure to Mr Larke's lucid' and, he might say, eloquent description of his country, and the e cheme he had put forward for increased trade between Canada and this colony. Mr Larke had givea them a lot of useful information, and he (Mr Dsnniston) was turethat bis visit would, if not immediately, do a lot of good. In the name of those present fee wished to convey to Mr Larke their heartiest thanks for the trouble that he had taken in addressing them, and for the Ytn fall icforuution he had riven them,

The vote of thanks w&V passed bj acclamation. " ■■