DIRECT TRADE WITH MANCHESTER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5460, 11 January 1896, Page 6

DIRECT TRADE WITH MANCHESTER.

[correspondent " canterbury times."] London, Nov. 30, 1895.

At the Grand Hotel, Manchester, on Tuesday evening last, at the invitation of Messrs TV. Weddel and Co., about a hundred guests sat down to a well arranged banquet, given to celebrate the opening of the direct produce trade between Australia and Manchester, inaugurated, happily, by the safe arrival at Cottonopolis oi' the Shaw, Savill sailing ship Timaru, after a protracted voyage begun at Melbourne on June 3, and ended on Oct. 31. Manchester was well represented and London also, and the Manchester men on the whole proved themselves better speakers than those from "down south." Miss Ada Cros3ley sang divinely cbetweeri. the speeches, which, as usual, were all too long. Yet it is with the speeches I am principally concerned,. and dismissing the diimerwith thea-emark that New Zealand lamb, Victorian mutton,' and Queensland beef formed its backbone, and that the wines were above reproach, I will to them :

The chairman, Mr J. K. Bythell, proposed the usual loyal toasts, and then in introducing Mr Weddel to propose the I toast of " The Australian Produce Trade " said "«This banqiiet will rank as an important event in the annals of the port of Manchester, and perhaps, it would not be presumptuous to add, in the annals of our Australasian Colonies." He thon referred to the object of the gathering and to the " halo of romance " surrounding the beginning of Australian direct trade with Manchester. He accepted the happy issue out of -what seemed likely to be a calamitous voyage for those on the Timaru as a good omen for the future of the trade. Having touched upon the Ship Canal briefly and made reference to the boats now on the way from Australia with produce for Manchester, Mr Bythell continued : Did they think it was likely after such a beginning that Manchester people would look back ? He did not think there was much danger of ouch a contingency. Local merchants were not likely to allow such a trade ever again to slip through their fingers. They would be determined, when they saw the Australian colonies ready to send their meat to Manchester, to find a market for it. He hoped that banquet would prove to be the inauguration of a trade with Australia which would assume colossal proportions and bo mutually beneficial to the mother country and her Australasian colonies. — (Applause.) Mr TV. Weddel, in proposing "The Australasian Produce Trade," said thai; when the frozen meat trade started in earnest in 18S2 many men not naturally pessimistic prophesied that it would not last long, that the colonies would soon be drained of their prime sheep, that the expense of transit would kill the trade, and that the prices obtained would not pay. To-day what did they' find the position to be ? New Zealand, which up to the present had been the principal shipper of mutton, instead of having her. flocks depleted by her heavy shipments (amounting since the start of the trade in 1882 up to "the present date to say 15,000,000 sheep), had steadily increased and improved them, until now they were fully 50 per cent -■ more numerous than in 1882. — (Applause.) Australia had been ' lagging behind in her exports of mutton, but seemed now fully roused to the importance of the trade, and would, he expected, before long overshadow New Zealand a3 regarded the volume of export, | although he expected the latter colony would never be beaten as regards quality. In beef, Australia had been rapidly increasing her exports, and this increase was | bound to continue, in spite of temporary checks from drought. Eiver Plate shippers had been steadily increasing their export of frozen meat, and for some years past the great bulk of their shipments had -come direct to Liverpool and been distributed from there. Their Plate friends appeared to have been thoroughly scared by the appearance of the Timaru at Manchester, for some time before the arrival of that vessel they were at great pains to make it known among buyers that as soon as the Timaru mutton came on the market they would reduce the price of Plate mutton to 2£d pc lb, the price then being about 3£d per lb. Accordingly, he understood that to-day they could actually buy Plate mutton considerably cheaper in Manchester than in Liverpool, although the mutton actually came to Manchester from Liverpool, and was handicapped with the additional cost of < conveyance. However, the Australian trade were not going to be "bluffed" out of this market. They had come to stay; J and Mr M'Dougall, the managing director of the Gulf line of steamers, would be able to tell them of a monthly line of steamers inaugurated between Australia and Manchester direct. (Applause.) A great deal had been said in recent years about Imperial Federation, and the suggestion had been made that Britain should admit to her markets, free of duty, all produce coming, from her own colonies, but should handicap the produce coming from foreign countries by levying taxes upon it. Personally, he was an out-and-out Freetrader — (hear, hear), — and as regarded Australian meat, he asked no, such handicap in their favour. But at the same time they would, no doubt, agree that the Australasian colonists, being our own kith and kin, were entitled to a preference over the foreigner, provided they offer us level terms. (Hear, hear.) The agitation to have all imported meat marked with the country of origin, colonial traders had no objection to, provided the Scheme could be carried- but in some/workable formi The report of the House of Lords Committee which dealt with this subject, was all in : favour of Australasian meat ; one clause in that report read, "Most of the witnesses agreed that as the imported meat became better known so would it increase in popularity." He felt sure that if this meatmarMng scheme were earned out, the result,, would be as beneficial to the Australian colonies as the Merchandise Marks Act had been to Germany. Instead of "made in Germany," we would have "grown in New Zealand," "grown in Australia." (Hear, hear.) The annual import of frozen mutton now reached the enormous total of 4,500,000 cases, or more than 25 per cent of the total consumption of mutton in the , United Kingdom The British working man 'during the past fifteen years had been able to gre.atly improve his style of living, and instead of being able to indulge in meat, say, only once a week, now, in most cases, had it on his table at least once a day. .With cheap and wholesome food, cheap clothing, and modei-ate house rent, the British' artisan was able to hold the field against the world, and if we could only succeed in establishing in all branches of 'manufacture some workable system of co.-pperatioft or ecxidtable profit sharing be.fween capital- .*aii{£ -labour, and so banish s&ikci'fsom./mr.' midst, the workshops of Biitain could "lick creation." — (Applause.) Strongly protectionist countries such as France, Germany, and the United States were finding out the --veakuess of their system, and how it was handicapping their industrial enterprises in competing in the various markets of the world. The British Government had definitely determined that the troops at such stations as Malta and Gibraltar should, to a cei-tain extent, be supplied with frozen meat, and within the next month or two the first shipments of Australian meat would be landed at these two important depdts. This was a kind of Imperial Federation which he thoroughly believed in. — (Hear, hear.) Turning to the other principal exports of Aiistralasia, he pointed oxit that wool last year showed a total of nsarly 1,500,000 bales, or a value of J515,OO0,O0O ; dairy produce was rapidly increasing, and although this year.it might receive a temporary check owing to drought, yet the eventual development of this branch was bound to be very important. From the same cause the export of grain would fall off this year . but this was only temporary. All bye products/such as tallow, tinned meats, '&o., would, on the other hand, show a stoady increase. Australians had all the grit inherited from their British ancash-v; ;«id they wero .xVJ.iy alive -to t!:e aVioluie necessity of developing; us rapidly us possible their produce export trade, a" close

attention to which was gradually giving a silver lining to the cloud which for a time had been hanging over these colonies.— (Applause.) . Mr A. J. Pease, in responding to the toast, pointed out that it was not till the opening of the Ship Canal that the Australasian colonies had an opportunity of putting their product direct on another market in England in addition to London. Hitherto the colonies had had to consign practically to one city, but in future they would consign not to a city, but would sell to a nation. — (Applause.)

Mr E. Brown and Mr Alderman Kendal also responded. Mr Brown, speaking on behalf of the frozen meat trade, said that he and his friends were anxious to do all they could to promote the interchange of commercial dealings between Manchester and Australian ports

Mr J. Dowdall, -replying on behalf of the butter trade,- said they must all feel that the Ship Canal had given a new lease of commercial life to the Manchester dis^ trict. What was wanted now was that the mp,gnificent achievement of the promoters, the engineers, and the shareholders should be followed by a practical manifestation of faith and hope and enthusiasm on the part of the manufacturers of the district. (Applause.) Sir Anthony Marshall proposed " The Australasian Shipping Trade." He concurred with Mr Bythell in hailing the arrival of the Timaru as a good omen for the future commercial relations of Manchester with the Australasian colonies. The canal from the very beginning had had to contend with the competition of the older ports, and with the difficulty of diverting trade from accustomed channels. He thought, however, that the forces of attraction focussed upon the port of Manchester were so powerful that success was bound to come in as full a measure as they could desire. Take the importation of Egyptian cotton. A strenuousxfight had been going on for that trade for nearly two years. The struggle had not been without loss, but that loss had led to a sure and, he believed, a permanent source of profit not only to individuals but to the city and the district at large. — (Applause.) The same result would no doubt follow with regard to the importation of American cotton, and they already saw the beginning of it in relation to Australian produce. — {Hear, hear.) Mr W. Grace and Mr D. M'Dougall responded. The latter gentleman said that, speaking from a wide experience, he could say that the docking arrangements at Manchester were of remarkable efficiency. In his opinion they were superior even.to those at Liverpool of London. Other toasts followed, and wero spoken to by Mr B. J. Belisha, Mr Alderman Eeade, Mr Alderman M'Kerrow, Mr E. Helm, and Mr S. Lowe.