PATRIOTISM AND TRADE.

Colonist, Volume LVI, Issue 13598, 7 October 1914, Page 6

PATRIOTISM AND TRADE.

APPEAL BY THE TRADE

COMMISSIONER,

The secretary of the Nelson Chamber of Commerce has received the following communication from Mr. W. ,G. Wickham, H.M.. Trade Commissioner in New Zealand:— . "May I appeal to you, and to ydur memberß through you, fewryour co-oper-ation in a matter of some importance to British trade. Statements are constantly b9ing made by merchants who in the past have dealt largely in German and Austrian goods to the effect that these goods are products obtainable only from these countries and not from England. Recent cases in point are enamelled hollowware, carpenter's tools, pencils, stationery, gas and elec-* trical goods,- and certain specified drugs. "Now, sir, many of your members know these statements to be untrue for the good reason that they have been handling the British makes for years j but not many realise that it is their duty both to the public and to the British manufacturer not to allow these statements to lie unrefuted. Furthermore, they have an excellent opportunity for pointing out to the publio that i they at least have been Belling good quality British goods before the war. There has been little justification for much of this trade with Germany^ in the past; there is still less justification for directly instructing the public to transfer their custom to America. "I need hardly say that the services of my office and of the Board'of .Trade are at the disposal of all who want accurate information on such points. There are and always have been in uost lines manufacturers in the United Kingdom ready to make competitively^wbat is being procured from the Continent, and the activities of the Board of trade now in the limelight of Press notices, have been for years directed to putting such manufacturers in touch with markets.