LOW RAINFALL

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 87, 4 July 1927, Page 12

LOW RAINFALL

ANXIETY IN AUSTRALIA BRITISH IMPORTS DECREASE “During the past year conditions have been satisfactory, but just at the moment there is considerable anxiety regarding the rainfall,’’ said Mr. R. W. Dalton, British Trade Commissioner for Australia, who is on his way Home on the Aorangi. “The rains have not come as they should,” he said, “and Victoria and New South Wales are becoming very dry. There is a drought in Queensland. and it is estimated that 8,000,000 sheep have been lost.” Mr. Dalton said that large quantities of imported goods are selling very freely in Australia. There has been a slight general decrease in the percentage of goods imported into Australia during the last few years, but Mr. Dalton said that he had anticipated this. The Australian tariff would affect trade in British goods in a greater proportion to that of foreign goods, as the British are big suppliers of goods which are now being produced in Australia. Mr. Dalton said that the representatives of British manufacturers are coming out in larger numbers than previously. There are a few on almost every Home boat now. The decline in the percentage of British goods going to Australia is not due to any reduction in the efforts of the British manufacturers, who are making a greater effort than they ever did previously-