CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3882, 7 August 1928, Page 9

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

ANNUAL MEETING.

YEAR'S OPERATIONS REVIEWED.

The annual meeting of the Dunedin Chamber of (. ommcrce was held in the Somerset Lounge, Savoy Buildings, on luesday evening. The president (Mr J. Taylor) occupied the chair, and there was a large attendance. PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.

In moving the adoption of the annual report and balance sheet, the president said it was a record of something.achieved to l the welfare of our city and province, and he would like at the outset to thank the members of the executive (Messrs A H. Allen, H. C. Campbell, E. F. Duthie, Janies Park, E. A. Rosevear, and T. C. Ross) for the help they had given him, and for the sacrifices they had made both in time and effort for the benefit of the community. Owing to the sudden death of the secretary—Mr Hercus—at the outset of the year, followed by important conferences on shipping, tariff, and other matters, they had many special meetings in addition to the weekly meetings, and the regular attendance, and continued interest of these gentlemen were very encouraging to him, and he ungrudgingly gave them the credit for anything that had been accomplished. As the prosperity of New Zealand was largely dependent on the ability of the people of Great Britain to buy our produce a short survey of the industrial position there might well be made. There was ample evidence that a brighter day was dawning in industrial matters, both in Great Britain and the overseas dominions. One of the surest signs of this could be found in the conferences which had been held both in England and here between representative members of the employers’ 1 ederations and representaof the trades unions. 1 A study of conditions in New Zealand showed that out of some 500,000 workers, one out of every four was an employer’ and this went to show that the great majority of businesses in New Zealand were controlled by working proprietors whose incomes and standards of living were very little different from those o'? the wage earners whom they employed; in fact, it was quite possible that the wage earner might live better than his employer and spend more on pleasures and amusement than his employer did. It could also be shown that nearly every employer of labour in New Zealand had risen from the ranks in the last 15 or 20 years and by dint of hard work, prudence and thrift, and frequently with the help and encouragement of other employers, had become a master himself. He did not know the conditions in Great Britain, but he knew that very few of the master tradesmen and employers in New Zealand were born with a silver spoon in their mouths—most of them had risen from the ranks, and what was possible for them was possible for every intelligent, hard-working employee to-day. Ever-increasing competition was placing a greater premium than ever on intelligence and training—no one class of society had a monopoly of brains—and, with education free from the primary school to the university, the boy or girl of humble parentage had practically the same opportunity to rise to the top as his more favoured schoolmate. In view of the fact that much farm land was lying idle and much only partially developed and cultivated, would it not be good policy on the part of the Government to devise some scheme whereby the whole of the farm and pastoral lands could by degrees be brought under production? Instead of putting the unemployed on relief works of a public works nature, a method which was known to be an uneconomical one, would it not be better to divert this labour into productive channels? If the farmer could not afford to pay the Arbitration Court’s rate of wages, could not the Government make up the difference? He could see it would be very difficult to work out a satisfactory scheme, but, as the welfare of our Dominion depended upon the productivity of our primary industries, he left it to some abler brain than his to solve the problem as to how to get our surplus lands worked by our surplus labour. The only method he could think of would be to give the farmer a bonus of some form on his increased output. He must admit there would be some difficulty in subsidising private enterprise, but surely this method of employing the unemployed on farms would be preferable to the present wasteful forms of relief expenditure. The great advantage of something along these fifths would be that it would be perman ent' afid productive instead of casual and unproductive. They had no guarantee that the prices of our primary products would remain at their present height; in fact, the tendency was in the way of a decline sooner or later, so it behoved them by all means in their power to increase their volume. Should the value of our exports fall, it was more than likely that the value of our imports would fall as a result of a fall in the cost of living m Great Britain, but it would be wiser not. to count on this but to try to make up for a loss in value by an increase in volume As business men, they were interested in the movement throughout the world in favour of the renunciation of war as a national policy. If the Great Powers combined in a solemn engagement a tremendous step would be taken towards the peace of the world. The recent formation of a big combine of British and American financiers and industrialists, including as it did important leaders of industry on both sides of the Atlantic, though primarily formed for the development of industries, could not but act as a big factor in the growth of the sentiment of favour of peace. That prosperity or adversity in New Zealand was largely governed by the balance of its export and import trade, prosperity following an excess of exports and adversity an excess of imports, was so well recognised as to be almost a platitude, but the results were not immediately felt. It took some little time before the gains. or losses filtered down to the trading community. Following on an _ adverse trade balance in 1926 and owing to the adverse trade balance at the end of March, 1927, which showed that imports had exceeded exports by

£2,500,000 (or, in other words. New Zealand had, so to speak, spent £2,500.000 more than it had earned), the year ended March 31, 1928, had been rather a lean one for most business people. It was interesting to note from the interim sheep returns at April 30 last that the total number of sheep for both islands was some 27,000,000, 14,500,000 in the North Island and 12,500,000 in the South Island, this being an increase of 1,750,000 sheep over the 1927 figures, and this increase was gained on top of a record export of lamb and the heaviest export of mutton since 1923.

It was to be expected that a reduction of imports would follow the previous year’s excess, and such proved to be the case, the imports being only £44,419,357. He noticed that most public speakers, when comparing the trade figures for the years ended ■ March, 1927, and March, 1928, spoke of a total gain of £13,000,000. They virtually said that for the year ended March, 1927, exports were £2,500,000 less than imports, but for the year ended March, 1928, they were £10,500,000 more than the imports, which was a gain of £13,000,000. He might be wrong, but the way he looked at it was this: Add the two years’ imports together, 48 2-10th millions, plus 44 and 4-10th equalled 92 6-10th millions, which, deducted from the two years’ exports of 45 7-10th millions and 54 9-10th millions (a sum of 100 6-10th millions) showed a gain of £8,000,000 sterling. Because of the fact that the standard of living was higher in New Zealand than in any other part of the world, it followed that the best customers for their own products (whether primary or secondary) were their own people themselves. This made it all the more necessary for them to encourage by all means in their power the policy of their manufacturers, their slogan being “ New Zealand, goods are best for New Zealand people.” Let their manufacturers see that they made quality their watchword, that their overhead costs were not excessive, that their workers were satisfied through being well paid and working under the best conditions, responding by increase of output, thus bringing down the cost of the finished article to the consumer. In the connection of encouragement of locally-manufac-tured goods, some manufacturers, he feared, look upon merchants as their natural enemies, and thought that the merchant pushed imported goods in preference to the local article out of sheer spite. This was not so; the merchant naturally favoured the goods which showed him the most profit, and, provided the local manufacturer was prepared to allow him 'a reasonable margin for working expenses, would prefer to sell the locai article. Closer co-operation would tend to keep the imports down and their tradebalance on the right side. In his opinion, the outlook for the Dominion had seldom been more hopeful, and provided every worker, from the humblest to the highest, was prepared to give as near as possible to 100 per cent, efficiency in his work, they are on the eve of a sea son of prosperity, to be accompanied, he trusted, with sanity of outlook. It was the height of presumption on the part of city folk to say to their primary producers that more and still more produc tion was necessary if at the same time managers, salesmen, clerks, and artisans alike thought that they could slacken and yet not impair the efficiency of the whole State. The only question which puzzled him was that the exports and imports of a country over a series of years tended to equal one another, so that the more their country friends produced and exported the more their imports tended to increase, provided that they came principally from their own kith and kin overseas, and that they were not of a luxury nature, possibly there was no great danger in this. Not only the ties of blood but also selfinterest urged the importance of concentrating their buying everything they possibly could from Great Britain. She took 80 per cent of their produce, and the more goods they can take from her the more wages she would be able to pay her workers, who, in return, they trusted, would buy more and more of their products.

In conclusion, he would urge members to make the fullest use of the Chamber of Commerce and its activities. Its usefulness to individual members depended largely on the calls they made upon its services. Like the Savings Bank and most of the good things in life, the more they put into it the more they could draw out of it. Now that they have a full-time secretary, he was looking forward to the time when the chamber would function so efficiently that it would focus in itself, so to speak, all the commercial activities of the city and possess, if not a building of its own, at least. a suite of offices in a prominent position, comprising board loom, reference library, and visitors room. With a membership list of, say 600 or 700 members, the position of siaent would rank in responsibility and honour second only to that of the chief magistrate of the city. He had very much pleasure in moving the adoption of the report and balance sheet. THE MOTION, CARRIED. The motion was seconded by the vicepresident (Mr E. A. Rosevear), who said he would like to congratulate the president on his very able address, and also upon his successful year of office. The report indicated the variety of subjects that the council had considered during the 12 months. Fifteen meetings of the council and 51 meetings of the executive had been held during the year. The president had presided over all of these meetings, and his year had been a very onerous one. Shortly after the last annual meeting the chamber suffered a great loss in the passing of its secretary, and the major portion of the detail duties devolved upon Mr Taylor, until the chamber secured the services of an all-time secretary, Mr H. P. West. While on this subject he could not help voicing his opinion that many business men failed to realise the work that was being done on their behalf and for their benefit by the Chamber of Commerce. The' chamber was fairly well supported, but it could be better supported, and with greater resources the council could extend its sphere of usefulness. He would like to see more members interesting themselves in introducing new members, not only that they might benefit themselves, but also to enable greater activities to be undertaken in the interests of the city and district.

He had sometimes thought that many of the public had an impression that the efforts of the Chamber of Commerce were confined to purely commercial interests. In a manner this was so, yet those interests were so very varied and had so many points of contact with governmental, civic, and all other functions, that the work of the chamber was undoubtedly of great cone >rn and benefit to the whole community.

Mr G. L. Denniston said he wished to offer his hearty and sincere congratulations to the president on his very thoughtful and able speech. The speech contained many serious thoughts, which would be of benefit to all if they were taken to heart. As a very old member of the chamber he heartily appreciated its efforts year by year to increase its influence and usefulness. The chamber was a live body, and he questioned whether any other body in Dunedin could equal the progress made by it and the benefit given to the community. The usefulness of the chamber was increasing every year. They were proud of it, and wished it continued success. The motion was carried unanimously. NEW MEMBERS. The following new members were elected:—Messrs G. H. Elliffe, C. A. Shiel, G. R. Cheeseman, R. A. Palmer, D. W. M‘Cay, and J. G. Jeffery. ELECTION OF OFFICE-BEARERS. Mr E. A. Rosevear was elected president unopposed, and Mr A. H. Allen, whose nomination was the only one received, was elected vice-president. Messrs D. E. Phillips and H. L. Smith were elected to vacancies on the council. Messrs Broderick and Chalmer were appointed honorary auditors.

The following representatives were appointed:—Farmers’ Union, Mr S. P. Cameron; Stock and Station Agents, Mr J. Couchman; Hardware Association, Mr John Gray; Merchants’ Association, Mr James Taylor; Retailers’ Association, Mr E. H. Hodge; Warehousemens’ Association, Mr T. C. Ross.

NEW PRESIDENT TAKES OFFICE. Mr Taylor then called on Mr Rosevear to take -the chair. He congratulated him on his election, thanked him for the assistance he had given during the year, and wished him a successful term of office.

Mr Rosevear said it might seem strange, but it was a fact that he accepted this high honour very reluctantly. The position was not sought by him. The chamber had honoured the retailers by electing one of their members as president for the first time in its history. He would do his best to uphold the high traditions of those who had preceded him in the office, and would appreciate any suggestion from any member which tended for the advancement of the chamber or the city. VOTE OF THANKS. On the motion of Mr A. H. Allen, a vote. of thanks was accorded the retiring president, the retiring members of the council (Messrs G. Crow, A. Miller, and H. C. Campbell), and Mr S. P. Cameron, who was for some time acting secretary of the chamber.