EMPIRE WEEK.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 24 May 1928, Page 6

EMPIRE WEEK.

LUNCHEON AT Y.M.C.A. An interesting address in furtherance of the Empire Week appeal on behalf of Dominion and Empire trade was delivered at the Optimist Club luncheon in the Y.M.C.A. rooms yesterday by Mrs Stanley Fletcher. Mr -J. H. liandvsldc presided over a moderate attendance. Of the total number of upwards of thirty persons present, a large number were ladies. Introducing the speaker Of the day, the chairman said he would have liked to sec a larger atondancc, but he was glad that so many ladies had r«mc along to support Mrs Fletcher, He had received apologies for non-attend-ance from the Rev. J. Cocker and Dr. Prior. Speaking as one who had travelled forty thousand miles, and visited fifteen States of the British Empire, as well as some foreign countries, Mrs Fletcher said that she hoped she was now anchored in New Zealand, because she believed it to be the best State of the best Empire the world Pad ever seen. Their duty was to make Mastcrton the host little town, or best big. town, if they liked, in New Zealand. hi saying Mastcrton, she included the whole Wairarapa, which, though neglected in some respects, was one of the finest districts in New Zealand. What could they do as men and women to put their town and district on the map as the best in New Zealand, and to put New Zealand on the map as the best State in the Empire? The answer was to be found in the American word “boost.” Every opportunity should be taken of boosting the district, its products and the goods made within its borders. If they were t. u provide work for the children as they grew up, they must resolve firmly, first of all to buy Wairarapa goods as far as possible, secondly to buy New Zealand goods, and thirdly, when New Zealand goods were not available,' to insist upon obtaining British Empire products. In dealing with the mutual interdependence of Empire countries, Mis Fletcher said that in the Rhondda Valley, in Wales, there were some four hundred miners’ houses, some of them the dwelling place of two or three working miners. For a long time only eight or ten of these miners had been employed; the rest were starving on the dole. The coal that these men used to win was uo longer wanted in Sheffield, where it was used formerly in making the best, cutlery, because cheap cutlery from Germany and America was being sold in markets that Britain used to supply. “Let us say,” said Mrs Fletcher, “that if we cannot get British goods, we will send to Britain for what we want, and that wo will not buy foreign goods.” If the Rhondda Valley miners had been working instead of subsisting on the dole, they and their families would have bought large quantities of New Zealand meat, butter and cheese. 'Here was a second reason for always’ buying Empire gcods. By doing so, we brought trade back] to the Dominion and gave work to our own population. America and other foreign countries did not take gcods in return for what they sold to us, except in the case of commodities like' wool they could not possibly do without. On other goods from this country they imposed prohibitive duties. Mrs Fletcher strongly advocated a much stricter censorship of American cinema films, together with the adoption of a quota system in favour of New Zealand and British films. She urged also that a very much higher duty should be imposed both on foreign, films and on foreign-made motor ears. Mrs Fletcher was warmly applauded on concluding her address.

In proposing a vote of thanks to Mrs Fletcher for her interesting and informative address, Mr G. Ei Sykes, M.P., said that the censorship of .picture films was already very strict in New Zealand, and it was at times' very difficult to determine what should, or should not, be allowed to pass. There tvas an extremely heavy duty on foreign motor cars to-day. When that duty was imposed, members of Parliament thought that it would be prohibitive. Unfortunately, it had proved not to be so. There was, however, a preferential concession on all British ears, and the British Trade Commissioner had exP'cssed his pleasure at the treatment meted out to Great Britain under the New Zealaijd tariff, particularly with regard to motor cars. He hoped the time would come when people would wake up to the advantage of buying British ears. The motor car had a very important plaee in the economic life of this country, and the Dominion would be in a much better position to-day if it had not gone in for the wholesale importation of American cars. (Applause.) Seconding the motion, which was carried heartily, Mr M.' G. Mackay said that it was all very well to point the finger of scorn at the Americans, but iii his opinion it would be better to take' a few leaves out of their book. He 'considered that America would have gone ahead as she had, irrespective of the war.

A pleasant and interesting function concluded with a vote of thanks to the chairman.