RECIPROCITY IN TRADE

Taranaki Daily News, 27 September 1930, Page 5

RECIPROCITY IN TRADE

BRITAIN AND DOMINIONS. DANGER OF DRIFTING APART. ' “Seventy-nine miles of material, bought from Great Britain, were used by the firm in the manufacture of shirts, pyjamas and underwear last year,” said Sir George Elliot, chairman of directors of Milne and Choyce, Limited, at the annual meeting of the.company at Aueiilaud, in the course of an address emphasising the claims of the Dominions of the Empire to a measure of protection foi- their goods on the. Home markets. The policy of the company, he said, had been to purchase, in addition to New Zealand-made goods, goods of British origin as far as possible. Apart from local goods, 80 per cent, of the company’s present stock was of British manufacture. It was a duty that devolved on every New Zealaud house to buy British goods as much as possible, as New Zealand was entirely dependent upon the British market for the sale of its products. Britain paid about £40,000,000 annually for tne produce she secured from New Zealand, and in turn this country spent a similar amount in imports. New Zealand, however, gave a very big advantage to Great Britain in that her goods were protected with a tariff against foreign competition. Without. that preference the purchase of British goods would i undoubtedly drop by at least 50 per cent. The manufacture of those goods carried at least 50 per cent, of their cost in wages, so that if New Zealand changed her policy and gave no protection it would mean £lO,000,000 less each year for wages in England. On the other hand New Zealand was given no protection in Great Britain and was compelled to compete on the open market with all foreign countries, in which the cost of wages was materially lower. The Imperial Economic Conference was to open within a few days and the result of those deliberations would be most important and its effects felt for many years to come. If Britain stood by her free trade policy, a policy that had been dropped by many other countries, it would eventually mean a loosening of the bonds, if not the beginning of what might prove to be a drifting apart of the Empire. The matter was one of ithe utmost importance to every firm, farmer and workman in New Zealand. Protection would not cost Britain much, but it would be an immense advantage to New Zealand and the other Dominions of the Empire to have an assured market. New Zealand was suffering wit,h other parts of the world in the diminution of trade. “Things are- in the melting pot and ohe must depend upon' the result of this economic conference as the turning point, not only in England, but in all parts of the Empire,” said Sir George. -