WEST AFRICA

Otago Witness, Issue 3384, 22 January 1919, Page 28

WEST AFRICA

.«. PRODUCTS OF USE TO NEW ZEALAND. (Fhom Ouh Own Correspondent.) AUCKLAND, January 17. The possibility of comprehensive trade being established with the British colonies on the West Coast of Africa was discussed to-day by a .Sierra Leone business man, Mr A. C. Smart, -now in Auckland. Mr Smart considers that New Zealand should pay the greatest attention to the importing of raw material direct for manufacture in the dominion. " West Africa offers gigantic possibilities for trade in raw material," he said. "It is only in recent years that British business men and the British Government have realised the importance of the colonies. Tho resources of West Africa ai-e only being discovered. The four chief products of West Africa are palm oil, palm kernels, cocoa, and ground nuts. So far as New Zealand is concerned the first two are not of primary importance. Their use to a largo extent is for manufacturing high explosives, soap, candles, etc., and to a lesser extent in the manufacture of margarino of low quality. Palm kernels are used in making oil cake for cattle. Before the war these materials wore largely in tho hands of German commerce. Vast quantities wero exported annually to Hamburg and other Continental ports, and only a small quantity went to England. On tho outbreak of war numerous German properties were seized along the coast, and tho importance of the trade was recognised. Early in 1916, when the products were becoming essential for munition production, the competition in tho buying- of enemy properties was tremendous, and some fantastic prices were paid for places with even small storing capacity. These commodities were in such

urgent demand towards the end of 1916 that cocoa, of which the Gold Coast Colony alone exported over £5,500,000 worth annually, was practically shut out from shipping space by the British Government. " Undoubtedly," added Mr Smart, "cocoa is a product which New Zealand should obtain direct from its sources. The prices existing for cocoa at present show that the entrepot system was costing the New Zealand consumer an exorbitant sum. Even in pre-war times the price paid to the native growers was £8 a ton, and in 1917 and 1918 the producers were receiving as much as £2l and £22 a ton. This price would have increased further, but for the fact that the British Government fixed the maximum price at £26 per ton in London and Liverpool." Mr Smart maintains that the process of manufacturing cocoa from the raw product could be very easily dealt with in the dominion. Prices are high, he said, and are likely to remain high, and in future it would pay the country to manufacture it here.