CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2455, 3 April 1901, Page 11

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

WELCOME TO THE HOX T FERGUS AND MR T. BROWN. At the Victoria Hall, Agricultural Hall Buildings, on 25th ult. a number of gentlemen assembled in response to the invitation of Mr D. E. Theomin, president of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, to meet and welcome back to Dunedin, after their recent trip to the Home Country, the Hon. T. Fergus and Mr Thomas Brown, delegates from the chamber to the London Coniergnca. Invitations were extended to .the members of the chamber, the local members of both Houses of Parliament, aud the heads of the different Government departments more closely allied to commerce. About 70 gentlemen attended, and the chair was occupied by Mr Theomm, who was supported on his right by the Hon. Mr Fergus and on the left by Mr Brown. Apologies for non-attendance were received from the Hon. Mr Pin'kerton, M.L.C., Messrs E. G. Allen, M.H.R., J. Allen, M.H.R., A. R. Barclay, M.H.R., Colonel Webb, Dr Hocken, Messrs H. E. Hart, T. W. Kempthorne, J. Lethbridge, D. Stewart, John Roberts, J. Davie, W. Gow, D. Reid, M. Cohen, J. Holdsworth, A. C. Stronach, J. G. Ballard, W. Murray, E. Cook, M. Joel, D. J. Bews, Jos. Young, Ivor Evans. James Hislop, C. R. Smith, and R. Chisholm (mayor). The Jtion. J. G. Ward, Minister of Railways, telegraphed as follows: "I very much regret that 1 cannot be present with you this evening. Had my oificial duties permitted it, 1 should have felt it a great pleasure to take part in welcoming homo such rejjresentativ c colonists as the Hon. Mr Fergus and Mr Thomas Brown. I tiuPt you vvi.il have a very successful evening.' In opening the evenings' s proceedings, tho Chairman explained that his recent stay in Australia had besa prolonged beyond tho period he at first anticipated, otherv/iee the welcome to their guests of that evening would have taken place some time ago. He was cure the meeting 1 would be very pleased indeed to hear what Mr Fergus and Mr Brown had to say with regard to their experiences at the congress in London. — (Ap- j plause.) The Hon. Mr Foigus, in making a few remarks with regard to the confeience of Chambers of the Empire in London in June last, raid if any of his audience had been present at that conference, representing a portion of New Zealand, they would certainly have felt extremely honoured. The officials had spared no pains in order to make all the delegates comfortable, and welcomes awaited them in every direction. The congress they attended was composed of men gathered from all quarters of the globe, including Australasia — men who had wandered far away from the old land, and carried the flag of the Empiro to every corner of the earth. It was somewhat surprising to him to find that the congress took into consideration so many large "and important questions, , embrioing not only purely commercial questions, but such large matters as tha federation of all people who claimed allegiance to the British Crown. There was also the question of the colonies having a voice in the -affairs of the natiotf: One of the frr3t resolutions proposed was: " That the feeling of Imperial citizenship throughout the Empire, and the sense of union already attained between the mother country and her colonies, render practicable and advisable the formation at an early date of an Imperial and Consultative Council of Representatives, in which the motherland and the colonies shall have one representative, to consider colonial and Imperial questions, and that the matter be brought under the notice of her Majesty's Government." It was pleasing to notice that the Fienehmen from Canada strove a3 much as thore who lived under the Southern Crc3s to express their loyalty and devotion to the Crown, and all they wished was to have some little voice in advising the Imperial Government as to the trend legislation should take, especially as it affected the eclonies. Altogether some 470 delegates attended, the majority of them coming from the colonial possessions of the Empire. Britain herself was well, wise'y, and ably represented by some of the first men of the day — men who had made their mark and efcood in the forefront of thought in the Empire. The Government sent some of their beet men, among them being the Earl of Selbourne, Undersecretary for the Colonies, who presided at one of the meetings and gave a most able address. Mr Ritchie, Home Secretary, was also in attendance ; as were also Sir James Lubbock, Lord Stratheona> and the chief of the Australian Commonwealth, Mr Barton. These gentlemen all lent very valuable aid to the proceedings. As he had previously hinted, the subjects dealt with were various, and early in the discussion it was evident that the colonies had cone a little ahead of the old country in the consideration of questions which had barely forced themselves upon the consideration, of leaders at Home. With respect to the Consultative Council, he might say that the labours of our statesmen had made this quesI tion felt to some degiee among the statesmen at Home, and the impression one gathered was that there was a feeling that what the colonies wanted was to develop a closer reciprocal union with the okl country in matters of trade. The Canadian delegates, who were very able men, wished to be brought closer to Great Britain in the matter of trade. Canada had not only granted a preferential duty of 25 per cent, on British goods some years ago, but had increased it more iccently to 33 1-3 per cent , as against any other nation trading with her. In other words, the Canadian Government had giv en a preference to British manufactures as against these of any other nation. The Canadian delegates were able, therefore, to take up a strong position at the conference, and they urged that Britain should give them a quid pro quo. Underlying it all, as far as Canada was concerned, was the idea that a certain measure of protection should be granted to the colonies that gave this advantage to Great Britain and her manufactures. It was evident that Canada wanted a duty imposed upon imports into Great Britain of articles which could be produced in Canada or in the colonies, as against those articles that were now produced by foreign countries — (Hear, hear.) For himself, his sympathies lay largely in the same direction — (hear, hear) — and he was pleased to be able to say that in the end the following resolution was arrived at: — "That this congress urc?es upon her Majesty's Government the appointment by them of a royal commission., composed of representatives of Great Britain and her colonies and India, to consider the possibility of increasing and strengthening the trade relations between the different portions of the Empire, and that the chair nominate a repiesentative deputation to wait upon the Premier, the Secretary of State- for the Colonies, and the President of the Board of Trade, and lay the qncbtion fully before them." To c. certain extent tin - satisfied the Canadian dc-koale?. liie question of tlie defences of the Empire was also dis-

cuswd. It was proposed that all parts of the Kmpire should contribute to the cost of defence, and he pointed out that at the present time the colonies are contributing m that direction, and one actually subsidising the fleet. He had the honour cf being a member of the New Zealand Government \vhen the question came up first, and ho was pleased to be able to ?ay that since that time tho colony had been giving i^s subsidy for the maintenance of an Australian fleet. Tho congress also took into consideration the " most favoured nation " clause, the object being to enable the colonies to participate in its benefits, and the following resolution was eairiod :—": — " That this congreFS is of opinion that her Majesty's Goa eminent should lake immediate steps, in conjunction with tho Government." of the colonies interested, in order to obtain for British colonies most favoured nation treatment from those colonies which _haie granted mGgjjA^ oured nation treatment to the United Tsngdom." British interests in tho Far East were also touched on, and another matter that was ably dealt with was the codification of commercial law. The development of British Central Africa by the opening up of railways was another subject for discussion. The bounties question, as it affected the sugar industry, was also spoken of, , and the following motion was agreed to' — " That this congress thinks the time has fully arrived for a settlement of the <-ugar bounty question, and requests her Majesty's Government to enter, as soon as practicable, into a contention with Austria, Germany, and other Powers who have expressed their willingnes3 to abolish bounties, such convention to contain a penal clause prohibiting the entry of bounty fed sugar into the territories of the contracting Powers." In connection with the matter, he might say that while in Glasgow l!e went to a large manufac- | turer's store and found that whereas he used I to take three-fourths cane sugar, with onefourth beet, the cane-made had now been almost ousted from the market. The decimal system of weights and measures -was dis cussed, tho motion agreed to by the congress being as follows: — "That this congress is of opinion that the metric system of weights 1 and measures should, as recommended by a i select committee of Parliament in 1895, be legalised in all parts of the Empire (excepting India) for all purposes, and afte_" a period of two years be everywhere rendered compulsory by act or ordinance ; and that meanwhile the system should be thoroughly taught in all public elementary schools as a necessary branch of arithmetic." Among other subject's dealt with, he might mention the unification of trade markets throughout the Empire and the recognition of those markets, the development of China, commercial ' education, the assimilation of statistics and Imperial telegraphic communication. He would also like to say that there was a warm feeling of kinship existing between the delegates ; and as for the colonial delegates, they were enthusiastically applauded for what they had done for the maintenance of the unity of the Empire, and for the little they had done to help the mother country in the struggle that wa3 now taking place in South Africa. — (Applause.) Speaking of ex-New Zealandm ho met in London. Mr Fergus referred to the welcome extended to all colonials visitinjr the Home country by Mr and Mrs John Ross. — (Applause.) It gave him pleasure to be able to testify to that fact. After referring to the hospitality extended on ail hands to the delegates, Mr Fergus concluded a most interesting speech by heartily thanking the Dunedin and Southland Cham bers of Commerce for having done him the honour to elect him as one of their delegates to attend the congress. — (Applause.) The Chairman expressed the thanks of the meeting to Mr Fergus for his chatty and instructive address. — ( Applause. i Song, Mr C. W. Eattray. Mr Thomas Brown, who was then called upon, after some preliminary remarks spoke of the conference of the chambers of commerce, which he said was attended by delegates from all parts of the world where Great Britain was represented. The coiiference, he said, was one of the most interesting and, to him, one of the most commeicially instruc- j live gatherings that he ever had tho pleasure of being connected with. The number of associations represented was somewhere o\ er 190. The questions submitted for consideration seemed to be a little too widespread and important to be decided in a conferance extending over four days only. In the dkcussions the Empire was the keynote — (applause) — the expansion of the Empire — the greatest nationality and the greatest Empire the world had Gver seen or probably ever would see. — (Applause.) One thing which impiested itself on them was that in all the deliberations they were regarded as the representatives of a very important element of England's greatness. — (Applause.) Ho could remember when the English colonies and dependencies were looked upon as posses?ions which it was deemed expedient should be got rid of at the earliest possible moment. — (Hear, hear.) Now the feeling was ■very different. — (Applause.) The feeliug was that in the?e .southern colonies at least our future was so associated with the growth and expansion of the great British Empire that we were expected to become, if we weie not now, a veiy important factor. He might add that there was a notion here that the working iran had attained the height of his ambition — eight hours' work, eight hours' pay — th.it he was very much fetter off than the working man at Home, buf they lequired to go Home to see the comfort" the ordinary citizen of Great Britain enjoyed, the facilities he had for enjoying life, the lefinement, the prml^ges ho pos?e*sed in the way of beautiful surroundings. What struck the speaker more than anything el-e wa^ the" improvement in the condition of tho mdirary worker. — (Applause.) The comfort and convenience of his home were non' marvellous. Ho wai lning 15 miles a. way perhaps, to whete he could get in a very short time. Ho had a comfortable horns in the suburbs, and the difficult question of the congestion of the city had now been solved by expeditious and cheap underground and suburban railways. As Mr Fergus had said, we- in the colonies had a lot to learn, and if we onlj' recognifed that we have got a lot to learn and to do hefore we reached the state arrived at in the old land it would do us a lot of good.— (Loud opplau^e.) They were at Home more comfortable, moie advanced, more refined than we were. Nothing barred progress much as tho self-conceit that arose in an insular lite. (Applause.) In conclusion, Mr Brown paid a tnbute to the kindness and consideration displayed to the delegates during their visit Home. He referred to the function?, gatherings, and excursions ai ranged and promo I . it! in iheir honour, and, in conclusion, -ad that although different views were entertained in lespect to many quc-uon^ which c;>me before llie conference, one resolution submitted to the delegates met with immediate and universal acceptance. It was .is fcllovs: — "Whereas the <-\istenec of an Empnc is Jaigelv dependi-nt upon tho ruatofal pio^penty of us people, therefore bo it resolved:

That in the opinion of this con^rcos the bond* of the British Empire would be materially strengthened, and the union of the various parts of her Maje^tv'a dominions greatly corsolidated, by the adoption of a ccmmeicinL policy ba^ed upon the principle of mutual benefit, whereby each component part of tho Empire would leceivo .1 substantial advuntaga 111 trade as the result of it* national relationship." — (Applause.) The Chairman said that the chamber's representatives at the Christchurch Conference wore Messrs Paterson, Denniston, and Wheeler, and btated that Mr Paterson was to have been called upon to make a few remarks, biu as ho was indisposed Mr Denniston ivould be asked to fill the vacancy. Mr Donni-tcn biiefly referred to the conference which wa<s held in Christchurch aft the hfur.e tune as the exhibition. He spoke of the ho^mtable manner in which the> Christchurch people had entertp.ined the delegates, and dwelt upon the able manner in which Mr Paterson had discussed, in tha paper he delivered before the conference, "'The Expansion cf the New Zealand Trade." It was a well-thought-out and welltreated paper, and if the conference had done nothing more than listen to and discuss that paper it would have accomplished good. — (Applause.) Messrs A. Thomson, Robertshaw, Rayncr,' Rattray, "Wl. color, ?nd Moloney all entfertained the gathering, after which The Chairman rlehv ered an account of his experiences as £> delegate to Sydney during the Commonwealth celebrations. Tho crierienceo of a delegate to Sydney, ho "rid. could not, of course, be compared with vvl.at hefell the visitors to the mother land, but thp molhor colony had done so marvellously vvel ir connection with the CommonI wealth celebrations that a few vvord^ froTn their reoro^on^jt-ivo on that ornnni njig'ju prove of inteiest. As the Mokoia, by whic'i he journeyed from Wellington to Sydney, took over the Premier and the Xative Minister, together v\ith a !a.ge number of me.i - bers of Parliament and other influential p"'sonages, he w?a i>ol surprised to find thei)iselves met 011 the vharf by Colonel Pei»ii'*i and a guard of honour. Just prior to thi-. salutes from several men-of-war led some ot them into the error of believing that this firing off of gunpowder was all in thp.ihonour, but inquiries proved that it was only an interchange of courtesies between the ships in t^e harbour and an Austrian war vessel that had just come in. Arriving on Sunday, Monday was given over to complimentary calls and a hard chase after the various cards of invitation which he was informed had been posted to his local acdress, but which so far had not reached him. As over 7000 sets of invite 3 had been issued, and rs he found that scores of tho invited guests were in the same case as himself, he determined to make his own arrangements for Tuesday, and therefore, in place of proceeding to Centennial Park and sittingin the sun for about three hours waiting for the Governor-General to arrive for the swear-ing-in ceremony, he joined his friends who had the windows of the manager's room at the Bank of Australasia in George street, and saw tho grand procession in real comfort. The sight was truly a most impressive one, the mounted Imperial troops getting tho largest share of applau=e, clo«ely approached by our own contingent, tho Maoris in particular being very well received. Our Premier ycry wisely wcrf« his Court costume, and presented a most imposing appearance : whilst the State carriage of the GovernorGeneral, with outriders and portilious. greatly charmed the onlookers. As the troops lining the route gradually fell into the procession, the people thronged across the streets until the whole space for hundreds of yards became literally packed, and the blaze of colour was something to remember. The Commonwealth races claimed his attention in the afternoon, but phenomenal rains spoilt everything: whilst the rush of the thousands off the Flat into the grand stand, to escape the deluge, though laughable, was somewhat terrifying. It was a minor sort of Mongolian invasion. Bein^ still without his invites, he missed the State banquet in the evening, for which he was noi". sorry, as naxt day it was currently said oE the guests that, like the South Sea Islanders upon whose customs and manners the young naval officer was ordered to report — their customs were borstly and manners they had none. He put in a much raon pleasant evening at a private dinnpr party given in honour of the day.

The speaker then gave a detailed and highly interesting account of the f esti\ ities the delegates were present at. describing the different functions in a felicitous style, and concluded as follows:— "The Conference of the Australian Chambers of Commerce was called lor 10 a m., and the results of their deliberations I now place before you. In the afternoon--et the invitation of Mr F. Russell French, the president of the Sydney Chamber, who tad chartered a special steamer— we had a irea-lly lovely time on the harbour A. very eumptuou3 luncheon was provided for the company, which numbered 25, and consisted Vf th« council of the Sydney Chamber -and 1h- visiting delegates to the Commercial Conference. With my usual modesty, I escaped a. speech by pointing out that Mr \ aile the Auckland representative, was a much older »nd better-known man than myself, in eteamintr round the harbour we paid a visit to the training ship Sobraon, meeting there the ofScers of the Indian contingent, with whom we foregathered and had quite a good j time. Before the trip was over it occurred to | me that some recognition by the wsitors of , ths couitCEy paid to them was clue to the j Sydney Council, =0 I canvassed the Mating delegates mcl arranged for a coi iphmPiuary dinner on the Saturday e'.eniT. 1 made treasvicr end secretary, pud I am gJr.d to say, for the honour of Dunedin, that this

littlo function (the mejiu caul of which Ibefore you) wa= acknowledged to be met successful. The chair was taken by the Hon. Robert Reid, of Melbourne (piesident of the Melbourne Chamber), Mr Paikes, of Tounsville, and your president occup\ in<r the vicechairs. I do not know that commerce was much benefited by the dinner, but I am certain that New Zealand was again brought to the fore, and good-fellowship piomoted among3t a number of merchants and others gathered from all parts of Australasia. My fellow visiting delegates accorded me a hearty vote of thanks for suggesting and miming this little ceremonial Although the newspapers will ha\e gi\en you a full account of the festhities generally, I feel that, ii conclusion. I must remai'k upon trie mju\ellous order that pervaded thp er.oniiOiM crowds brought together from nil pjit« of tic Australasian colonies— crow d- so den-e a^to often mako locomotion a maUer of po?iti\e difficulty, and, in the great heat pro\ ailing, generally very unpleasant; and I should aho like to bear testimony to the extraordinary absence during the celebrations of the naturally expected rowdyism — 11. deed, the police records for that ti-re ?!-owed figiuc- much below the a-, riage Tlipu the fieeclom from accident? in the ahv.n-s 1 arrov, and latter!}- made m'i'.o c'ifHtjlt to dri\c tliiough o\w.ic to i\i n extcnbiou cl the Uam bjjiem and tue tpeed

of the electric cars. \va^ another mattei for congratulation, and was direct o^ itiorcj of iho ability of Aiistvalasi^.us to take ca.ro of thcmsel\c under almost any cucunistancos fhijoyp'eiit vas so much the oider of the da}" that i think commerce, save in the providoiing line, was during all this time almost at a standstill, but I have no doubt thai the circulation of the enormous sums of money expended by the Government and the \isiiors -uill \ cry shortly afterwaids have had a mn«t beneficial effect upon the trade of Sydney. Wo ha\e tho evidence of Sir William Lyno that tl'o l'ailwav department alone benefited to the extent of £bO,OOO in three weeks. During the \ isit I mi^ed the familiar question, ' What do you think of ouv harbour ' It -was leplaced by anothei oquallv important, and ru"te as oitpn ivpeatoo r : 'Is New Zealand g0111?g 0111 ? to join the Coirmonwoalth'' Not being in a ])Osition to answer for my 800. 000 fellow New Zealanc'ers, I was unable to satisfy my questioners. Now if you will sprinkle through the itinerary a good percentage of pin ate luncheon's, dinners, etc., you will, I think, admit that flesh and blood could stand 'very little more than we were called upon to go through during thp Commonwealth celebration^ of January, 1901."' On r« tablf i.i fro.^t of zho chairmin wore a number ot jnteiesUny cxliioiUjl including

Mr T!.coi;im"s invitation -cird to the Coin lpomteilth celebrations, a catalocrue of thr Federal Art l^xlnbition in .SjdiKj, a plan of th<? sealing for the luncheon in tb< Coiteunial Hall, Sydney, on the 3id .lanuary. se.cial mci\i c ird 1 -, and < mic ii'>oto^ ( >!- Iccr-d by Mr UrG\wi dunr.g Jn» \l-11 to c'lliorent jjarts of England and iSi.otland. Eefore &fpardtinir the meeting drank Mitli gieat enthusiasm ihe health of the chair man, and, aftor Mr Theomin had rtplu-d 111 neat terms, the gathering broke up with the tinging of " God save the King."