PROMOTING EMPIRE TRADE

Taranaki Daily News, 12 June 1930, Page 11

PROMOTING EMPIRE TRADE

THE NEED FOR EDUCATION ADVERTISING IN DOMINION NEW ZEALANDERS’ OPINION By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. London, June 10. "British manufacturers need education in the necessity for advertising in the Dominions,” said Lord Riddell in a speech on advertising at the Press Conference. “It pains me to see the preponderance of United States advertising in many countries. I love the United States, but I do not want to see the world Americanised.” Lord Riddell asked why the Empire Marketing Board should not . advertise British goods in the Dominions. . -■>■■■ Sir Ernest Benn said the British had. still to learn that the selling and distri-, bution of goods were more important, and certainly more difficult, than producing them. Britain in thinking of millions in organising and rationalising was forgetting that these impressive figures meant less in the total than the sum of all the little figures which would develop from the pro* per use of individual effort and enterprise. Britain was learning better and the Socialist Government was helping. Retailers took a third of the total of the national output and tended to live on inflated die* counts, not doing more than a third of the trade they ought to do. Millionaires were useful, not for themselves, but if they stimulated many others to follow a little bit in the same way. OFFERED GERMAN GOODS. Mr. A. McNicol, Dannevirke, New Zealand, said that the first things offered to delegates in London shops were German. They had not come 12,000 miles to buy German goods. Sir William Crawford said that British advertising had been trebled in seven years. The perfect advertising man would be a judge, a poet, artist, business man and prophet. They had to find him in a syndicate. The “Buy British Goods” campaign had aroused enmity, but the propaganda of the Marketing Board had aroused no such feelings. As advertising councillor to the board he would, if necessary, reduce the board’s expenditure on advertising in order to increase research, thus improving quality and bringing, greater business. Sir William Crawford again deprecated crude “Buy British” campaigns. They must educate the people. Mr. MacGowan, Trinidad, remarked that the British West Indies was not marked on the conference menu.

Lord Burnham said the Marketing Board, of which he was a member,_ had spent £2,000,000 on advancing the interests of the Dominions and Colonies. Britain was entitled to a little reciprocity. He asked the Dominion Governments to spend in helping the sale of British goods overseas. This could apply to goods not produced in the Dominions. He desired only equality of treatment for Britain. Sir Robert Donald said £1,000,000 yearly was voted for the board, but only £400,000 had been spent. This was not a fandeal for the Dominions. The board’s pictures were pretty but they did not sell goods. Mr. Sheedy, Australia, suggested that they should doff their coats and get to work at promoting Empire trade. Foreign trade was making alarming progress in Australia. Mr. T. C. List, Taranaki Daily News, New Zealand, complained that the law about indicating the country of origin of apples, lamb and other produce was not enforced. ' i

Miss Haig (Canada) urged research into psychology, as well as into the cold stor age of Australian apples.