EMPIRE MARKETS

Otago Witness, Issue 3806, 22 February 1927, Page 7

EMPIRE MARKETS

i NEED FOR CO-ORDINATION, TRADE AMBASSADORS’ VIEWS. ' Three British trade ambassadors, Sir Thomas Allen, and Messrs W. Charters and J. English—are at present on a tour of the Dominion, and two of them, at the invitation of the, Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, gave addresses at the board room of tho Express Company’s buildings on Wednesday. Unfortunately Mr Carthers had been called away by telegram, and was unable to be present. Sir Thomas Allen is a member of the Imperial Economic Committee and also a director of the Empire Marketing Board. Mr H, C. Campbell, president of the Chamber of Commerce, briefly''introduced the speakers. Sir Thomas Allen, who was received with loud applause, said he noticed he was to speak on Empire problems. This was a very great subject, greater than he was capable of dealing with. Their Prime Minister, he noticed, had just returned to New Zealand rich in dignity and honour. He had gone Home not to teach or to chide, but rather to help and to discover how best't® cement the bonds of Empire that bound them so truly together.—(Applause.) He had returned conscious that the spirit of co-operation between the dominions and the Motherland had been x strengthened. The speaker went on to refer to the work done at the Imperial Conference, and said that the self-govern-ing peoples of each dominion now had the right to advise the Crown on all matter relating to its own affairs, ano were the arbiters of their own destinies. The Imperial Conference of three years ago, on the other hand, had caused great disappointment to the dominions, in that it was felt that Britain had failed to implement the conclusions come to at that Conference. Great progress in thought had been made since then, and also in respect of education in matters of Empire. Without cohesion there was no chance of a world peace, said the speaker, and he referred to the upheaval which would occur in the various nations without it. They were glad in their hearts that the Imperial Conference had this time moved towards a greater stabilisation of the Empire than had been achieved three years ago. —(Applause.) They had got a great heritage, the greatest heritage that any people at any time bad known. They had reached a position which had taken long generations to achieve, proving that with all their faults the fibre of their manhood throughout the centuries was unim-paired.—-(Applause.) From every point of view the Imperial Conference last year had proved the most fascinating in the whole history of statesmanship. No other race really could have conceived it. It was part of the process of their continued life that had knitted them together, and the fabric that had taken three centuries and a-half in the making, since the flag had been hoisted in Newfoundland, had not yet been completely woven. The speaker quoted figures to show the might of the Empire, and said that one fourth of the people of the world were under the care of that Empire. These were figures to boast about, if they liked, to inspire them, maybe, but they were also calculated to keep them sober for the work which awaited them. The populations, the territories of Canada. Australia, and the other dominions were enumerated, and mention was made of the Irish Free State,

the youngest of the dominions, which, said the speaker, enjoyed the privileges without anything being asked from her in return. The Free State was putting her tariff walls against Britain as they some- - times did in Australia and' New Zealand, and yet the Old Country kept on smiling.— (Applause.) But they knew’ each other, and they knew the Mother Country, because in all the lands he had named, Canada, Australia, ’New Zealand, South Africa, etc., there were only 22,000,000 of white pcpole. Continuing, the speaker said they could realise under the circumstances that the responsibility of trusteeship of such a great people as he had indicated was very great indeed, including as it did foreign policy’, the world movement of commerce, Empire trade, defence, the distribution of man-power, and so on. Greater Empire trade was the only solid ground upon which internal security could be built. When considering the question of Empire trade the dominions had to remember that for many years to come Great Britain must figure more boldly than her' colonies. The recent Imperial Conference had realised this point. He knew that the dominions had been not a little disappointed with the previous conference because the Government at Home had not fulfilled its pro-’ mise to tax certain foreign food products.

This was the result of the defeat of the Conservative Government by Labour, which had had only a brief stay at Home. The Conservatives had been returned to power conditional on their not taxing food in any way. No Government in England for many years to come could hope to be allowed to tax food. The British Government had not neglected its responsibility to .the dominions. The Imperial Economics Committee had been set up, and had done great work. The recent Imperial Conference had vested added powers in the committee. But one of the most important moves the Government had made in the interests of Empire trade was in voting £1.000,000 per annum for the work of the Empire Marketing Board, whose aim was to stimulate Empire production, foster a keener interest in Empire products, and to facilitate the marketing of Empire goods. It was as a member of the Empire Marketing Board that he was speaking to them, and he wanted to give them some idea of the work that board was ding for the whole Empire. The board’s publicity programme in respect of Empire products covered an amazingly wide range. The newspaper press, all advertising mediums, posters, kinemas, and schemes of lectures, and demonstrations in schools and colleges had all been widely used in an endeavour to convince the people of Great Britain of the economic significance to the Empire of her interna] trade. No Government in the world, except, perhaps, in wartime, had ever embarked- upon such a comprehensive publicity campaign. He would like to touch on the various sapects of the work being done. The Marketing Board had provided for the labelling of all imported products, discriminating between Empire goods and foreign. The aim of such a provision was two-fold. It was desired that the retailer should know where his wares came from, and it was considered essential that customers should have the choice of foreign or Empire goods. Scientific laboratory xcfirk and the widest investigation of marketing problems were important features of the board’s programpie. A great deal of valuable research work had been done, and would be continued, in the direction of studying the mineral contents of pastures and the vital question of malnutrition in animals. A substantial grant had been made for the study of tropical plants, such as cotton, the importation of which was of the utmost importance to Great Biitain. Another asso ciation had come forward and subsidised the board’s grant £ for £. It had been decided that the cost of transporting pedigree stock to the dominions must be reduced, and the need had been met by means of a grant from the board's funds. The value of such a move would be fully recognised by those connected with the stud stock industries in New Zealand.

The financing of fruit transport in many countries was very precarious, and the board had decided to take the matter up. It was realised that fruit exporters could not. expect the same accommodation in the matter of finance as meat and dairy produce exporters until the element of risk that existed at present had been removed. It was not so bad in New Zealand, where he believed that the Government guaranteed to growers a return of about Ils per case. The problem of reducing the risk attaching to transport was being investigated, and in addition strenuoi* endeavours were being made in the direction of better marketing. % In October lasT a vast newspaper campaign had been started to bring Empire goods before the public, and in January there had been distributed in all towns with a population of more than 10,000 a map showing the sources of Great Britain’s imports and the places to which the bulk of her manufactures were sent. Exhibits of every variety of Empire product had been staged at all the leading exhibitions, and this year the board would have a great exhibition of its own provided out of the funds. Three silver cups, the best valued at £lOO, had been presented for the finest show of Empire fruit in the shops of London, and it was hoped in the near future to extend the competition to other centres.

The board this year was issuing a new Empire map, the like of which had never been seen before. None of those existing at present were of any use for teaching school children what a great federation oT nations the British Empire was. A special Empire film was being released throughout Great Britain, and the value of such a scheme could be readily imagined when it was known that six million people went to the pictures in Great Britain every week. Radio-broadcasting and a systematic _ canvas of public bodies urging the claims of Empire trade were among the many schemes adopted. It had been decided, said Sir Thomas, that the grant of £1,000,000 yearly could be spent to the best advantage on research work, and in this connection he would like to remind them ilia a large.grant

had been made to the Waite Institute at Adelaide and that the Cawthron Institute at Nelson had received a grant of £4OOO for five years. The policy in respect of research was in the direction of assisting already existing institutes rather than the foundation of new ones. Large sums had been devoted to various works throughout the Empire, and £25,000 had been set aside for the investigation of cold storage. Il was hoped to get a system of chilled produce to i eplace the present freezing methods Entomological research, said the speaker had been recognised as of paramount importance. Insects were man's greatest rivals, and he felt that laboratories in this connection were a great deal more valuable than legislators. Dr Tillyard, he suggested, was accomplishing a far more important work than was' the Minister, of Lands or Commerce, or any portfolio. The board was anxious to experiment in tropical agriculture, as there were many varie ties of foodstuffs in tropical regions which could not be distributed on account of their perishable nature, A great deal of good could be done there. One of the greatest problems of to-aay was that of power in industry. Coal lignite, and other properties to be found in tho earth wcie used extensively for transport and industrial purposes, but what they wanted to do was to be able to extract from coal the oil required for power without losing the valuable by-products of coal. And what was most important, they wanted to be able to produce this oil as cheaplv as it could be imported from tne United States or Persia, or whatever it came from. . lie had tried to give them a brief outlino of what the Empire Marketing Boaro was doing with its million pounds, and he was sure that they would agree with him that it was all well worth while and that it was a suitable return for the help the dominions had given in the past, and would give in the future. Great Britain could never forget that her colonies weie her best customers. New’ Zealand, in proportion to her population, was far and awav the best siustomer Britain had, and the 01.1 Country- was well aware of its indebtedness. What the Empire had to du was to discover new ways of improving internal trade. Empire expansion had to come from within from now on. Great Britain bad 30 per cent, of the world’s shins and 40 per cent, of the cotton spindles. The British Empire produced 60 per cent, of the world s_ wool, 60 per cent, of the world’s rubber, 70 per cent, of the tea. 70 per cent, of the gold, 89 per cent, of the nickel, and S 9 per cent, of the jute. They had been talking about the difficulties of recovering the . Old Country's markets, but he was satisfied that with co-ordination that old Britain and its Empire had not lost their way.— (Loud applause). Mr English said that the Wholesale Cooperative Society was one of the most helpful of the bodies working in the Old Country at the present time. The society desired" to increase its trade relations with the dominions. Last year it had taken about 17 per cent of the butter products of New Zealand. It was also taking fruit and it hoped to get supplies of New Zealand lamb. They had 12,000 distributing centres, with 30,000 retail shops. The society was going to play a great p.»rt in Empire production, and it had no trouole about what might be termed the smews of

war. The society had no political or social significance. It wag built up on the savings of the great democracy of Britain. The society bought for its people at Home nearly £8,000,000 of flour per annum, £7,500,C00 of butter and £6.500,000 of sugar. It spent £4.750,000 in the production of tea, on bacon and hams £4,250,000 - annually and it required 10,090’ tons of wheat per week. —(Applause). Their trade at Home was getting to the neighbourhood of £80,000,000 per annum, a.n.d they would very soon reach £100,000,000. This was because the consumers believed in co-operation. They did net want low prices because they stood for goods of high quality, and they wanted trade with the dominions,—(Applause). Mr G. D. McFarlane (chairman of the New Zealand Produce Association in London) outlined the negotiations leading up to the linking up of his association with the Co-operative Wholesale Society. He explained the aims of the society, .and proceeded to describe the scope and some of the problems of co-operation in England. He concluded by saying that the future of all- industry must be on a cooperative basis. The Mayor, Mr H. L. Tapley. M.P., said he would like, on behalf of the citizens of Dunedin, to extend a welcome to tlieir visitors. Unfortunately, the stay’ of the visitors would be very’ short, and he therefore had not had the-opportunity’ of extending to them a civic welcome.’ Mr James Taylor, vice-president of the chamber, moved a hearty vote of thanks to the speakers, the motion being carried by acclamation.

Sir Thomas Allen, in returning thanks, said that per head of population New Zealand stood highest of all the dominions in its trade with the Motherland. New Zealand’s trade stood at about £l5 16s per head, and that of Australia at £ll 10s. He said he hoped it was correct that Mr L. S. Amery, Secretary of State for the Dominions, was coming on a tour of the dominions. He was the best Colonial Minister they’ had had since the days of Mr Joseph Chamberlain, the greatest Colonial Minister the Empire had known.