Manchester and Australasia.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2368, 28 December 1898, Page 2

Manchester and Australasia.

HOW CAN TRADE BE DEVELOPED ?

(Manchester Evening Chronicle, Bth November.)

It is singular that movements which are obviously necessary are so slow in making a beginning. This observation applies to most things, butseems to have a special application to the comniercial community. We have not far to go to find a ease in point. Practically ever since the opening of the Manchester Ship Canal, traders in the populous locality of which this city is the centre have felt that the waterway ought to be utilised freely by steamers giving a direct connection between Australasian ports and Manchester. As the Hon. Robert Reid put it to the members of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce to other day, Manchester 5 must be a terminal port so far as the interchange of commodities with the Australasian colonies is concerned. ' Speeches to a similar effect have been made previously, but nothing has yet been seen in the way of real action oh the part of the Chamber. There i£ hope at last that something may be done. Acting upon the suggestion of Mr Alfred J. Pease, of the firm of M’Kerrow and, Pease, colonial brokers and merchants, of Manchester, the members who heard Mr Reid’s address decided to recommend the directors of the Chamber to form a committee in order that abstract expression of opinion may take concrete shape. The directors would be able to open up communication with responsible bodies in the colonies. Ideas and useful information would be exchanged, and there is every likelihood that something tangible would come about. Mr Pease put this view of the situation with , much emphasis to an Evening Chronicle representative. He is very well qualified to speak of the resources and prospects of the' Colonists, and the chances of a direct trade with this part of the country which shall be mutually remunerative. He knows Australasia well, and spent fifteen years in the South Island of New Zealand. Questioned about the history of direct Australasian trade' with Manchester, such as it has been, he went back to the arrival of the Timaru in November, 1895, and the Gulf of Siam early in 1896. “ We were (he said the first, in. conjunction with our friends Messrs Weddeland Go., London, to bring frozen meatand rabbits, wheat, oats, and tinned meats direct to Manchester. The meat salesmen supported us strongly by purchasing liberally of the carcases before they arrived, but the River Plate importers promptly dropped prices in order to strangle the trade, ‘ You keep to London,’they said, in effect; ‘leave as Manchester and Liverpool, and we won’t fight you.’ What was to be done? Neither the salesmen nor we could be expected to go on dropping money. Since then very little mutton has been imported into Manchester direct. I see no reason why the. communication should not be established. Look for a moment at the circumstances and opportunities. Within a radius of 50 milea of Manchester there is a population much larger than within a similar radius of London. This city is the centre of perhaps the largest consuming locality in the world. The population is ready to take the products of the Antipodes to a far greater extent than is the case in the south of England, where there are more of the leisured classes, and where the manufacturing element does not exist to the same extent. Here have people who want to be decently fed atasmallcost, and the Australasian frozen mutton and lamb supplies a want which cannot be met by the English farmer. At one time some people hardly tasted animal food from one year’s end to another. Now they can have it every day, and the best cuts at that. The mutton which cornea over is thoroughly wholesome. Sheep in the colonies have not'inherited the ills to which the home animal is heir. Then the colonies can send us cheese and butter, canned meats and raw hides, and there is no reason why the wool which Yorkshire needs should not come here instead of to London. The Yorkshire manufacturer now, almost without exception, is buying in the colonies direct, so that there is no longer any necessity for the wool to be offered at auction in London. Iron and earthenware from Staffordshire, not to mention manufactured textile goods from Lancashire and Yorkshire, ought to be exported by way of the Canal. To sum up, practically everything is made in this district to meet the needs of the colonies.” “ Then the thing is to divert the shipments from London ? ” “Precisely. If the Manchester merchant had his way he would, no doubt show his loyalty to the canal, but the colonial importers have existing arrangements in London, and in many eases it is really out of the Manchester meirchant’s power. Surely it is the teaching of commercial economics to bring producer and consumer together, and to buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest market? To attain that end you must avoid all unnecessary cost on the article by way of freight, and so forth. There is no reason why a man here in the north should pay the railage to London if he can get his stuff taken as cheaply from his own doors as from the Thames. The initiative would have to come from this side, because the colonists are not so wealthy as we are, and, moreover, have their money loked up in land or kind. But any movement here would be warmly supported there. The Manchester Chamber of Commerce might do a good deal by opening up communication, so that we might be better informed as to

the class of goods the Australians require, uid they as to the products most useful to us. From conversations I have had with bankers and others, I have ho doubt they are quite prepared to give facilities for developing trade similar to those given in London and elsewhere. I am aot in a position to make definite suggestions, but I repeat that it is a matter which the Chamber of Commerce might very well take in hand. It should be borne in mind as well that this interchange of commodities would be mutually advantageous, because a saving in the Cost of purchase would be effected on either side.”