COMMERCIAL ENTENTE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11647, 26 August 1905, Page 4

COMMERCIAL ENTENTE.

The Anglo-French entente cordiale^tias its commercial as well as its sentime^ta£jMt(p. How immense is the financial siae/pfVthe friendship is illustrated by the details! of the trade between the two countries, published in the annual report of the ' British Chamber of Commerce in Paris. France last year imported from the United, Kingdom for home consumption goods to th& value of over £21,000,000, and' sent -i^ return goods to the value £49,000,000, or about one-quarter '•o^K^b. total exports French' exports* "j^viGr-eaJT Britain are more _than"doiibre- those Germany, and more than five times- thosa jj to the United States. No other European <* country possesses so much of the produce and manufactures required by the United * Kingdom as does France, and no ' other '. European people utilise so much of the product of the brains and labour of Great Britain as do the French. There ia therefore solid commercial reason why the two countries should .-maintain friendly, -relft-, • tidns. The Chamber's report refers to the need for steps to prevent the fraudulent use of the label words "British made." Many Continental manufacturers make, use of the high reputation won by the British workman, and label very inferior goods in such a manner as to lead buyers to believe that they are getting a Britishmade article. The Chamber is constantly receiving complaints from commercial men who suffer from the most bare-faced imitations of their trademarks or from cunningly devised descriptions in English affixed to the goods of their competitors: The French Government has been many times approached in the matter, but has not taken action. There is amplal- lega;! power to prevent such frauds,. -and^'When French goods are counterfeited r%K^^^^ est vigilance is displayed. by the. author*? ' ties. A few circular letters haye.bgen issued to French frontier agents, calling their attention to the complaints of the importers, but these officials have no control over tEe French -manufacturers, responsible for a large part of the dishonest labelling. Apparently the^^f French authorities do not feel, inclined to)«^npy their own manufacturers for' tHe,"fs&i»-4!dr assisting foreign competitors, '^eVen./wndS' the latter are British.. . '/__.-. •'/. ■'-