THE CANADIAN COMMISSIONER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2823, 22 April 1908, Page 11

THE CANADIAN COMMISSIONER.

ADDRESS TO THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. TRADE WITH NEW ZEALAND. A special meeting of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce was held on the l.th inst. to hear an address by Mr J. S. Larke, commercial commissioner of tho Government of Canada. Mr Walter Gow, president of the chamber, was m the chair, and there was a good atterdance of mem r bcrs. Apologies for absence were received from Messrs ii. L. Denniston and R: Chisholm. The President briefly introduced the speaker, who, he said, would address them on the subject of the possibilities of trade •between the Dominions of Canada and New Z- aland. .sir Larke, who was received with applause, referred to the obligation he was under io presidents and secretarys of chambers c connmerce for the interest. Canada, -while large m area, had not iarge population, m all probability something under 7,000,000, but it was growing very rapidiy. The nineteenth century -vas the century of the United States, but :'t was claimed m Canada. thai the twentieth century would be Canada's century, and .hat m 1950 there would be 50,000,000 neople there, and further, that it would Eventually hold a population of 200.000,000. 'ihe advantage of cultivating trade with euch a country wa3 not only that it would eventually provide a large market, but that :'t would be a steadily growing market. ! t was perfectly true that Canada produced very many of the articles that New Zealand produced, and the popular notion was that there could be little or no exchange between two such countries. There was this distinction, however, between them. Vhe winter of Canada was the summer of New Zealand, and the winter of New Zealand was the producing period of- the year m Canada, and the opposite seasons made a natural market, to some extent, for the products of each country. Another misconception was- that when a country produced an article, not alone to meet its own requirements, but for exportation, it did not import that article. Canada exported cheese largely, but it also imported cheese. It exported app'es on a larger scale than any other country, but at the present timo the steamers from Tasmania to Vancouver were carrying Tasmanian apples •for Canadian consumption. To somo extent, Canada exported butter, but every winter butter was imported into the West Coast of Canada for consumption, and occasionally, as* at present, the city of Toronto, on the east coast, had been using butter . made m New Zealand, but bought m London. There' was a steamer loading «t Port Chalmers writh building stone for Canada,' and when he was at Auckland he .taw stone at Smith and M'Kay's m use that came from Labrador. : No. one knew what the extent of the trade between the two countries was, because, such a large proportion of it was done indirectly through -Nev/ York and London, the goods from (..ana da being shipped there and transhipped to New Zealand, and the drafts .paid m either of the two cities. Hence rhe returns of exports to New Zealand from Canada were not correct. Neither were the Canadian returns, so far as they .•oncerned the trade between the two :ountries correct. If they were tho return of exports from New Zealand to Canada 6hould be the same as the imports from New Zealand as shown m the Canadian In 1906 the New Zealand returns showed the exports to Canada amounted to nearly £30,000. but the Canadian returns disclosed that the imports from New Zealand for that year were over £62,000, more j than double the other sum. On the other hand, New Zealand's import returns showed that Canada had sent more into New Zealand than the Canadian returns disclosed. Taking the Canadian returns as naturally more correct m regard to the imports from New Zealand, it appeared that Canada had received from New Zealand goods to the value of 42,000d01. In 1906 the imports were worth 302,000d01, and during the same period the Canadian i exports to New Zealand had increased from j 462,000d0l to 734,000dol; that was to say, | m three years New Zealand's exports to j Canada had increased seven times and ahalf, and Canadian exports to New Zealand had increased 75 per cent. The trade returns of New Zoaland showed that m 1906 New Zealand exports to Canada were worth £30,000. while next year (1907) they ■had increased to £78,000, an increase of ©ver two -and a-half times m value m a single year. From this they would see jthere was considerable trade, and that t.he trade was growing with some degree of rapidity, but what was wanted was greater volume. The trade depended on whether there was a market open to particular things. There was a market m New Zealand for Canadian— goods, as was wellknown, and there was also a market for New Zealand goods m Canada, which was not well known. New Zealand made pretty gocd butter, and the Canadian liked to get the best butter he could. Canada did not buy butter to a very large extent, "but m nine months she had bought 69,000 do! worth, and of this New Zealand had sent 8000dol worth. Then Canada wanted frozen mutton, and had bought it from New Zealand to the extent of 49,000d01, but during those nine months she had also bought 227,000 sheep from the (United States. There was a steads and growing market for at least 300,000 carcases per annum, and New Zealand sent practically no supply. Of provisions, Canada bought 3,500,000d0l worth m the year, and New Zealand merely cent butter. Altogether, New Zealand 6ent Canada about, one-eighth of the butter Canada imported, practically no mutton, less than one-three hundredth part of the provisions, and a small percentage of the wool, flax, and hides Canada used. There was then surely a market which New Zealand had not yet reached. Reverting to the communications between Canada and New Zealand, Mr Larke said that 20 knots an. hour was too slow. Why Was not cabling cheaper? New. Zealand and Australia owed something to_ Canada for that cable. The original scheme had been an All Red- cable service, extending practically all round the world. Canada had not .made- much, out. -oi-h^r cable schepje. The United States of America had strenuously fought against the laying of that cable, hut, now enjoyed exactly the-- same rates as Canada got. The eastern extension line was owned m London, but the Government owned all the capital, and had been paying the interest on deficits ever since. England paid m rates 3s, to Australia's

2e. There never was but one gcod Mother Country to her colonies, and, thank God, that Mother Country was oure. — (Applause.) The cahle would ever be associated with the name of Sir Sandford Fleming, who was now getting to bo an old man. He it was who had worked so hard for the Scheme without emolument or honours. Yet a Melbourne newspaper had attacked him ! savagely. However, he was already justified by the results of the working* of the Pacific cable. New Zealand was handicapped to a certain extent by its distance from the markets of the Old and the New Worlds. The only' way it could Ret on equal terms with other producing countries was by cabling. Therefore, tho interests of New Zealand lay m the completion of the cable scheme. Eastern Canada used to be regarded as Canada's front door, and the West as the back door. White inhabitants were now flocking to tho West by thousands. That was where they ate all the mutton, and the butter. This was New Zealand's opportunity. Why did they not avail themselves of it? Why? Because they could not get ' there. The steamship lines could not bring the things Canada wanted. Twice had Canada altered the tariff. But for this reason New Zealand had not been able to benefit by it. A steamship line had all its refrigerating space fully occupied. That •was not Canada's fault. If Now Zealand wanted business she must first procure the facilities. Eastern Canada used New Zealand wool, hides, and skins, but had to get it across 3000 miles of rail, or else by way of the Cape of Good Hope. Canadaian railways could not carry New Zealand produce owing to congestion ; therefore a prohibitive rate was put on. Cheap products would not stand 3000 miles of railway which carried them m transit 5000 ft m the air. Canada purchased New Zealand goods m London, but did not care about doing business through New York. Doubtless there were honest men doing business m New York, but too often it was found to be the other way. New York had frequently substituted cheaper goods, and tho purchasers m consequence often cursed the Canadians, who, they believed, had supplied them. New York houses frequently threw the blame on Canadian manufacturers. Canada could load a monthly transPacific steamship at her end, and New Zealand could do the same at hers. The only thing needed was the line. To-day the bulk of New Zealand news paper came from Canada. Some of it was unsatisfactory. That was because of tlie Englishmen interested m paper mills. Canadian paper mills run by Canadians gave complete satisfaction. Canada was going to be the greatest paper manufacturer m the world. They required great water power to do this, but they would get it m time. As to trade between the two Dominions, nothing could be done until they got the line. There was another way m which they could help one another, and that was m the matter of preferential trade. _ Thoy had a clause 'in the Canadian Constitution unlike any other country. It -was as to the unity of the Canadian provinces, and would conduce to the welfare of thoso provinces and would promote the welfare of the British Empire. The success of that Constitution had been remarkable. They had had the welfare of the British Empire at heart all along, and they had tho preferential tariff. He thought when that taiiff came :'n the importations from Great Britain were going steadily down. They tried 12£ per cent... and that did something, then 25 per cent., and that did | more, and then 33 1-3 per cent, and to-day the importations from Great Britain were two and a-half time's more than when the tariff was first instituted. The same prej ference had been given to New Zealand. I Mr Larke then touched upon the excellent ' moral effect produced by the colonies com- ! ing to the assistance of the Mother Country m the late South African struggle, and m conclusion said the matters he had touched upon were m the hands of the people of New Zealand. The Mayor (Mr J. Loudon) moved a hearty vote of thanks to Mr Larke for his address, and, m so doing, said Canada was a growing country, and m time to come would probably be able to take a great deal of our produce to the advantage of the people of New Zealand. Would it not be possible to cpen up direct communication with Canada, and instead of having one wool market have two or three. Mr Roberts, m seconding the motion, said he had, when m Canada, been told that- they had 3,000,000 bales of wool ; ooming into the States every year, so that | it was almost hopeless to do business m greasy wool. They must guarantee their I grades, and they could buy 200 baies of ' wool and guarantee the whole lot of them : | wool varied. ' Mr C. W. Rattray mentioned that when ! m Canada one of +be largest manufacturers had told him business had been increasing so rapidly that manufacturers could not 1 consider any expor!- business at all. The Chairman having conveyed tho vcte of thanks to Mr Larke, se.id he thought it would be pc-haps as well for thr committee to take the matter referred to by Mr iArke up and formulate something. He would premise on behalf of the committee that it would lake them up and woula prepare and' ?übmit some motion which might be productive of seod m the hands of some of the members of Parliament.