OUR EMPIRE'S TRADE RESOURCES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3315, 26 September 1917, Page 54

OUR EMPIRE'S TRADE RESOURCES.

EXTINCT GERMAN MONOPOLIES. We cannot ignore the fact that on our future commerce will be based the Empire's greatness. It is worth while, then, to attempt to show, briefly and some of the possibilities, to give some indication of the Empire's well-nigh illimitable resources. The British Empire, to begin with, is almost perfectly self-supporting. It produces the right men, as all the world is well aware, and it produces in sufficient quantities practically all the various kinds of material on which .he world's commerce and industry depend. What is not or cannot be produced in the United Kingdom is to be found in plenitude in Australia. What Australia lacks as a natural resource Canada can give. And so on. Dyes and Metals.— These are factors of which possibly better use might have been made anterior to the war. As it was, some of the most vital productions of our Empire were controlled by the Germans, just as the Germans in some case'? had seized ideas originating in this country and developed them so that they had obtained a special skill and almost a complete monopoly. The classic instance of this, of course, is that afforded by the manufacture of dyes. To an Englishman is due the credit of discovering the aniline dye principle; but the world cannot soon forget how, soon after the German export trade was cut off in the autumn of 1914, it was almost helpless in this particular matter. It is satisfactory to note that the Government took up the question, and adopted measures which, severely criticised as they have been, should render United Kingdom secure in the future from such abject dependence on the Teutonic dyestuff manufactures. This will also be the case in regard, say, to spelter, of which the Germans had obtained a theoretical monopoly—sirithed by the Australians, who produce the metal in the greatest quantities. So, too, with the ore from which tungsten is made. The British Empire is the biggest producer of this stuff, so absolutely necessary in the manufacture of certain kinds of high-grade steel; but the Germans had obtained controlling interests in many of the mines where it was found. Again, take the case of palm kernels. These are the basis on which a vast industry has been built up; but while *ho production of the kernels was in an overwhelming proportion carried on within the British "Empire, about three-quarters of the product*' >n went to Germany or other' parts of the Continent. That, too, has been stopped, and we may hope that Britain will in the future develop an industry worth hundreds of thousands of pounds every year, and one so closely connected with our food supplies—palm kernels being used largely m the manufacture of margarine, and in feeding-stuffs for cattle.

Indeed, we may hope that many other industries which are based on our Empire's products may be developed by and for the Empire's peoples. In this connection we make no apology for quoting from that inspiring book, " Eclipse or Empire." John Bull is invited to consider the "inexhaustible resources" of the British Empire. " Let her look at Canada, with only one-tenth of her rich bosom as yet scarred by the plough, her womb not yet pregnant with those harvests which could feed the whole population of the earth; with her undeveloped coal mines so vast that it is calculated that they could warm and light for 1000 years 1000 millions of the human race; with her yet unfathomed oil reservoirs in the folds of the foothills; with her untold wealth of minerals waiting to be unearthed from the cliffs of the Rocky Mountains, and with her inexhaustible forests of timber still standing in the giant trunks of British Columbia.

' " Let him fix his eyes on the vast continent of Australia, still inhabited only by a fringe of men, with her millions of unclaimed acres of pasture and arable land, and her mines pouring gold from east to west into native mints—Australia, which, with her sister Dominion, New Zealand, could breed enough sheep and cattle to feed the Empire. .

"Then let him move on to India, with its stores of tea, rice, jute, cotton, and countless wealth in precious stones. On to Ceylon, with its rubber and cinnamon and pearls. Then on, again, to Egypt and the Sudan, with all their still undeveloped wealth in cotton, gum, and cereals. Or, flinging his gaze downward to the Far South, let him survey the terraced ridges of South Africa, streaked and seamed with veins of certain gold, and the blue-clay scoops where lurk still the unearthed gems of the diamond fields. Then onward to the Falkland?—the fertile home of sperm oil in the midst of barren seas—to the sugar fields in the West Indies—the mahogany of British Honduras—and the pulp and fisheries of Newfoundland." Cereals and Textiles.— Truly a picture to make John Bull sit up and think optimistically. The facts thus presented may easily be reinforced with others or given in detail. In the matter of food supply, it may be pointed out that Canada is one of the greatest wheat-growing countries in the world, and has fittingly been called the granary of the Empire. Australia, where the production of wheat falls very much below that of Canada, has still shown capacity for enormous increase. South Australia is termed " the granary of the Commonwealth." Thus, when the resources of the Island Continent, of Canada, India, and other poi-tions of the Empire are considered, it can at once be seen that there is little to fear for generations to come,

at any rate, for our supply of cereals and meat. Let us consider textiles for a few moments. There is cotton. As a rule, about two-thirds of the world's supply is grown in the United States—say about 14,000,000 out of 20,000,000 bales. But India produces something like 4,000,000 and Egypt 1,500,000 bales, while progress is being made in other parts of our Empire. It is indeed highly probable that the next few decades, which will see various big immigration schemes resulting in the conversion of desert into fertile land, will also see a great expansion in the cotton-grow-ing industry within the Empire. Of our resources in cotton manufacture, those who know anything of Lancashire need not be told.

Wool I Nowhere in the world is the raw material turned to better use than in Yorkshire and other British centres. Our cloths set the standard for the world. They surmount tariff walls because theii quality is unapproachable in most other countries. Our manufacture is enormous. We may therefore feel satisfaction in the circumstance that over £0 per cent, of our imported wool comes from lands within the Empire. The position is equally fine in regard to minerals. We do not produce as much coal as the United States ; but Ave have great reserves, and South Africa has a rapidly-expanding industry, while in India there are immense coalfields as yet scarcely touched. In gold the British Empire produces over 60 per cent, of the world's entire output. India, Burma, British Borneo, Canada, and Egypt are taking an increasingly large share in the world's production of petroleum; Canada has immense copper potentialities, and is one of the few countries producing nickel. And in regard to iron and steel, the whole world has had a magnificent example of what Britain and the Empire can do and what their resources are. Yes, the British Empire has magnificent trade resources. It remains to be seen what the Empire will do with them. And, be it remembered, she still has the shipping which affords the channels in which trade may run, as well as the facilities, the skill, and the enterprise which enable us to build better ships more cheaply than any other nation.