CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 566, 2 December 1915, Page 2

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

QUARTERLY GENERAL MEETING.

1 The quarterly general meeting , of the Canterbury. Chamber of Commerce, was held this afternoon, Mr H.-S. presiding. : CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS. ~ In the course of his address, and referring to. the export of wool, the chairman said that our enemy must soon feel, the want of .supplies of wool to clothe her armies as well as her civilian population. A probably moderate estimate puts the clothing, required for the millions of armed men now engaged at three to five times that of the same number of civilians. A very complete restrictive organisation existed to ensure that shipments to America could not ultimately reach Germany or, in fact, leave America. . " . . Next in importance of the Dominion 'p exports was frozen meat, which accounts for £6,085,459 as it portion of revenue. He was. able,to state, from information received, thatj sufficient steamers, in reason, had been arranged to carry the Dominion's frozen produce in the coming season. As exemplifying the growth Of the meat- industry, arrangements contemplated include the erection of 11 new freezing, works and additions, to storage accommodation' at existing factories to a,, total increased .capacity of 900j000 ; " freight ' carcases, which would assure a' nori-recUrreiicte of the disastrous blockage that occurred last • season. . The . ; system adopted by the Government in handling the meat' requisitioned; by the Imjperial Government , ior war purposes had worked very smoothly. Satisfactory had been • entered into in respect of the present season's meat :on the same lines and at the same price., v "V ;■ BUTTER -AND . CHEESE. i Considerable devfelopxxient' h&s t'afceijt place' year by year- these products now reaching £1,399,59,2. and ag their respective quotas., One-third of the cheese.output.had requisitioned by the Imperial Government, through the New Zealand Government, at 7|d per lb f.0.b., a price' that must be considered .satisfactory to the producer. WHEAT. Representations were made by the chamber to tlie Government for relief in the unfortunate, deplorable position that had arisen in connection witli the trade, and members would .agree that all' those engaged in this industry had real grounds .for dissatisfaction at the action, of the Coalition Government in its restrictions.; When it was ascertained that a surplus existed above the Dominion's requirements, representations were made to the. Premier to •move the embargo upon' exportation. At that time wheat could- have been sold to Australia at 6/10 f.o.b. New Zealand! ports, and options bought at 4/4 f.o.bi Australia for delivery [December if required. Notwithstanding that a special census, taken at June 30, gave 4,124,273 bushels and 10,441' tons of flour as the stocks, the; Government de-i cided to take another census at October c 31. This census confirmed the formed one, and the Government' removed thd embargo, but, unfortunately,, the opportunity of the market had passed. Wheat was essentially a- product of Canterbury, and at the outbreak of war* an appeal was made to the farmers to grow wheat, with the inducement that} it would be required for Army food, to which the farmers responded. The usual census of the estimated area and yield, gave, the crop as 5,700,000 bushels,) .6,000)000 bushels being the year's consumption. With last year's supplies used up, there was an apparent shortage. On these figures millers and merchants were induced to buy to keep I their trade and machinery goingj and at the high prices of 6/6, to 7/- per bushel - ! —a price that was below those! ruling in other wheat growing" countries —and at .which .it r could have been marketed .to a profit but for the embargo; The special taken in June,, which showed a surplus; forced the market down to. 4/.- to 4/3, ; and fiour proportionately, resulting in heavy losses; to many millers , and merchants who were 'carrying the stocks in the course of their business to pro- . vide the bread 1 supply until the next harvest was available. ; Had the embargo been' removed when; a surplus was discovered,- as recommend-? , ed. by the chamber, an amount approxi- : ! mating £125,000 wortli of wheat could . have been released, instead of this amount being represented by wheat in) | the barn not wanted. These heavy losses could only reflect against pro- . ductiou apd trading to the detriment ofi the Dominion in general, and Canter- j terbury in particular. He predicted that unless more encouragement was given to; • wheat-growiug the production would re-i [ quire to be subsidised, and this was' . supported by the fact that the wheat' . stocks from tlie 1914 crops were not: sufficient to carry us over till the 1915: ! crop, necessitating the Government im- ! porting upwards of 500,000 bushels toj fill up the shortage. , •INDUSTRIAL. He would not feel that he .had done \ his duty if he did not make some re- ' ference at this time to manufacturing ' and other, industries. country liyed; upon its industries, one upon the other, i It was often said that chambers of; i commerce were not directly interested'

in manufacturing, but this was not so. The farmer, who was the basis of the country 's : prosperity, was. directly interested by expansion of the food consump- _ , tion, and while in New Zealand, ajid Canterbury in particular, there was still room for many more people on' the land, 5 there was room for tremendous develop- ) ment in manufacturing industries. Tliis i came home to-them the more when they considered'that in the past they. % had been assisting to build up :a-nation to fight them by reason of their - use of foreign ■ manufactured articles, instead of manu- ■ facturing. It was to be hoped'that due I. cognisance would be taken of the fact, i and that users in the future would be ■ particular ip their determination to use . s Only; local or British-made goods, so far • as it was possible. He'was afraid that ! . even: at the present time German goods :: wqre finding their way into the country > i ■ under'some guise. 1 Great Britain's - financial..strength, as ' reveaied in rthis war, was gained mainly > through Jier workshops, but of late years she had haid rivals, particularly in I Germany.. . The pjast 12 months had ex- | empKfted "ifolc'>the''fifßi!fc : "'tim#\-wliat'. oduld • ' be done by New Zealand using its own money for its. own .requirements. ' The two million .loan; showed what could be done when we buy less and sell more to other "countries. It. thus behoved everyone to support local industries. ' THE WAR. " . No i&mediate settlement of the war appears to" be in sight. In the interests of commerce, jwliile he would hate to speak^onejstf<?rjl that would-dn the least -discourage recruiting, he felt it hie duty txr issue a caution against undue depletion of so young a country of its fullest development and productiveness. This war.aiwar .of attrition as well as of the sword'. An army was of no purpose if it were not fully equipped in munitions, clothing, and food, and to this end, by special effort; this country could render very valuable assistance. "If >we can beat the , enemy, ■%aiieiairy,-; : -'.'w , e • have done just as well, or better, than by thelswoVd J; and in this we are aided •fcy the! wonderful British Navy, to whi<Sh :-we in so much. "WHile paying- tribute* to the Navy, .we do not forget • those brave fellows who have gone to the front,, some never to return, and others wounded who may be seen in our streets,' evidence of the trials • and hardships of this -wicked ~waf. Let everyone do his duty, and, if not able to fight, then through the purse, opportunity for which is open in the Queen Carnival, when I feel sure Canterbury will not be behind other provinces in the voluntary contributions ; to give comfort t.o' our soldiers in very many cases which the Government cannot reach.'' THE DISCUSSION.. - , Discussing the address, Mr J. A. Fros-tick-said thsct he could not allow such an excellent addresses' that delivered by the president to pass without making some remarks thereon. He believed it was the first time that" so much stress liad been laid on the necessity for encouraging the manufacturing and secondary industries. New Zealand could only become a great nation by developing botih primary and secondary industries. It was a fact that the shops in our cities were crowded front floor -to ceiling with imported goods. If we had dbrie as.Germany, for instance, liad done in supporting her own industries alone, then.-we Could as easily subscribe to a £10,000,000 loan as we could to a. - £2,000,000 loan. The average earnings of our 'artisans were not as satisfactory as they might be, but if the people would-oiiiy 'support their' own- industries there would be an improvement in that respect. He congratulated the chairman on-the excellent departure that he had made; Mr'A. Itaye referred to the failure to secure advancement of the effort to connect Christchurch with the sea. The railway - arrangements between Lyttelton and Christchurch; were still most unsatisfactory. Mr A. H. Turnbull said that some improvement had been made, and th« chamber must continue to make representations to the authorities. Mr E/W. Relph said that; in ;his opinion, the farmers of Canterbury had a just grievance against the Go\ eminent, for its. action in the matter of wheat. In failing to remove the embargo at * time when it faas obvious that such could be done without unduly depleting the local supply, it pursued a course unnecessarily detrimental to the interests of the farmers. He was glad to have heard Mr Frosticlc's remarks relative to our New "Zealand industries, and, although he was sure that for some time to come New Zealand must rely principally on its agricultural products, he nevertheless felt that New Zealand could never become great by reliance on agriculture alone. We ought to tajcq a leaf out of our enemy's book and inculcate practical patriotism in the minds of tjie children. : In replying to the remarks madey Mr Bourn urged that if the pioneers were . willing.to r,ate themselves to put a tunnel through 'to Lyttelton, .then the people of to-day should be able to put a roadway through for motor traffic, and a strong committee should be formed to go into the matter.