TRADE WITH ENGLAND.

Waipa Post, Volume 43, Issue 3392, 24 December 1931, Page 4 (Supplement)

TRADE WITH ENGLAND.

SHIPMENTS TO THE OUTPORTS INSTEAD OF CONCENTRATION ON LONDON.

It is a significant fact that nearly everybody who goes from this Dominion to the United Kingdom with the idea of investigating the methods of marketing our products there, ana analysing the results secured, returns a strong advocate of the policy o± making greater use of the principal outports. At one time exporters gave no thought to any other port than that of London. It was considered that the facilities there were better than they were elsewhere for the rapid and cheap handling of goods, and that only by distributing through London could it be expected to obtain the most satisfactory results. That impression was strengthened by the activity which the authorities of the Port of London persistently displayed in stressing the advantages which the Port possessed, particularly in respect to the marketing of overseas exports, of food stuffs and raw products, notably wool. Shortly before the war the first serious attempt was made to direct attention to the opportunities which the leading outports, especially Hull and Liverpool, offered for the receipt of imports and their rapid and effective distribution. During the war period there was necessarily a cessation of the campaign to attract trade to the outports. But within the last few years it has been resumed with greatly increased vigor, and there is plenty oi evidence that the authorities controlling the ports are determined to spare no efforts to secure a much larger share of the imports, especially from the Dominions.

Agents have been sent to New Zealand and other parts of the Empire, and the propaganda which they have been conducting has already done much to awaken exporters to a realisation "of the fact that they have a great deal to gain by decentralising their shipments, instead of concentrating them into one avenue. In the last few years there has been a steadily growing tendency to favour Hull as a port of entry to England, not only for wool, but also for other products, and the outcome appears to have been highly satisfactory.

The docks and port accommodation at Hull are owned by the London and North Eastern Railway Company, which also owns the great arterial railway extending from London in the south to Aberdeen and the far north of Scotland, directly serving the large industrial and populous areas of the Midlands, Yorkshire and Lancashire, as well as the north of England and Scotland.

Inspired chiefly, no doubt, by the desire to extend its operations, and augment its profits, the company is strenuously seeking to attract trade to its principal port, and, with that object, not only has it sent a special representative to New Zealand, but it also has published various striking booklets and other literature designed to reveal to us the manifold benefits which must inevitably accrue through the more extensive use of Hull as a terminal port. >The facts furnished, and the arguments advanced, are illuminating and convincing, and they certainly merit sympathetic examination by all who are rifany way responsible for or associated with the conduct and development of our overseas business. It is pointed out that by making a more generous use of Hull, producers and, shippers can materially strengthen their position in the Home markets. There is an enormous population within;a comparatively short distance of Hull; but, up to the present its consuming potentialities have been by no means fully tested, nor have opportunitiesf%een afforded it to secure more than f% very small proportion of its requirements. The view is expressed that it would appear safe to snip very much larger quantities tp Hull than; is now done, and that the for such shipments a!s ,hav||belen made in the past conclusively prove that it would be tp the' advantage of shippers to adopt that policy; '•' Because of tnejfiact that the Do-

minion producers have to compete at a disadvantage with those of countries more favourably situated, it is vital that the marketing arrangements for their produce should be as efficient and cheap as possible. Hull is claimed to be ideally situated for economically reaching large industrial centres. The facilities for unloading overseas vessels and otherwise dealing with their cargoes are asserted to be excellent, and the rail journeys to the centres indicated are short, with a consequent substantial saving in transportation costs. Recently it was suggested that trade commissioners should be placed in selected centres in England for the better distribution of products. Were that procedure followed, it is certain that strong pressure would be exerted to persuade shippers to devote much more attention to the utilisation of the outports.