Stratford Evening Post With which is Incorporated "THE EGMONT SETTLER" (Established 1890) FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1934 A Two-sided Bargain

Stratford Evening Post, Volume III, Issue 209, 23 November 1934, Page 4

Stratford Evening Post With which is Incorporated "THE EGMONT SETTLER" (Established 1890) FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1934 A Two-sided Bargain

; IT is sincerely to be hoped that i the latest Ministerial mission to j Australia will achieve more sucj cess than those which have pre- ! ceded it. New Zealand's adverse trade balance in ten years is something like £12,000,000 in spite of the fact that the most persuasive of our statesmen have made periodical tripb to the Commonwealth in an attempt to place matters on a more equitable footing. The position obviously is that Australia is prepared to concede nothing that will affect her own interests. It seems that the time has come to j tell the Commonwealth Govern- | ment that some definite arrangej rnent is imperative. What is the j use of being units of the Empire i if some preference in trade is not

i mutually agreed upon, and put into operation? Canada with her tariffs, Australia with her tariffs, and New Zealand with her tari iffs might as well be foreigners I for all the use they are to one anj ether in this most essential of | all considerations, and it should | be possible to establish a recipro- ! cal relationship that produces j something like a trade equilibrii um. Only one principle should j count in the discussions. The j Ottawa Conference was not auite explicit concerning the du- ! ties the Dominions owed each j other, though their duty to the ! Motherland was clearly defined. : Undoubtedly at the outset some I small sacrifice has to be made in j arranging the terms of a trade treaty. Australia has half a dozen main lines of business and rlairy produce is not one of them. Butter and cheese are New Zealand's chief exports. If there is lo be any agreement regulating the trade of the two countries it must be on the basis of concessions, and here is where the Commonwealth's concessions to Ihe Dominion should begin, instead of every effort being made to shut out supplies from this quarter. Next to Denmark, Ausj tralia is New Zealand's chief j competitor in the markets of ! Great Britain in the butter trade. I It is utterly useless to speak of a ■ Customs agreement if this atti- ! tude is to be persisted in when i negotiations are ente*ed into i with a view to improving the

j position. Our big neighbour asi pires to enter the manufacturing i field as an extensive exporter or [ mnnv new lines. Our £2,500,000 [ or £3,000,000 may be unimporrI ant to her, but, if it is, it is as j well that we should know and should place our business where ! the ideas of reciprocity are not j so narrow. The slogan at Ottawa j wao two-way trade, and that is j the only foundation on which a i durable treaty can be built up. So I far Mr., Coates, as leader of the ! delegation, has established the amenities with the usual run of platitudes; let us hope that this method of approach will end when he and his colleague get | down to business, and that they J will, in the expressive idiom of the Wild West, begin to "talk

; turkey" If they can get past the | guard of the Australian states- | men they will indeed have j achieved something bevond prc- | cedent in New Zealand fiscal his- ! tory