TRADE WITH CHINA.

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18113, 2 September 1930, Page 9

TRADE WITH CHINA.

DOMINION’S PROSPECTS. BARRIERS TO EXPANSION. i A FOOD PRODUCING COUNTRY. No. I. (By Arpad Szigetvary.) The object of these articles is to approach the question of trade with China independently from the findings of Professor H. Belshaw in his recent report to the Department of Industries and Commerce. While concurring with Professor Belshaw in many of his points the intention is to refer to some sides of the question not touched upon, or elaborated, by him. A direct Neamship service between New Zea.la\ 1 and the Orient as a means of increasing the Dominions export trade has constantly heen advocated, and has been brought into prominence again by Professor Belshaw. While the motive behind the suggestion is certainly to be commended, the exuberance of the . theoretical •thought, however worthy, must not be allowed a free course irrespective of the hard facts which are presented by practical considerations. People are too prone to think ol China as a country of teeming millions comprising a practically insatiable market for foodstuffs. Far from being a country' of sponge-like receptivity, China is sufficient untqMierself as far as most of her people’s comestibles are concerned. The standard of living of the average Chinese in the South and Central areas demands little more than an unvarying diet of rice, vegetables, very, little pork, still less mutton, practically no beef, tea and sugar. That is of course speaking in general terms. In the North rice gives way to millet. This is the normal diet of that 400,000 000 or so held out in the nature of an Eldorado for our exports. A Semi-Vegetarian Race. To this menu China herself contributes the various courses in the main A good deal of rice and sugar is imported but that, of course, does not affect New Zealand. Of the various meats China supplies a sufficiency unto herself. The Chinese as a race are really semi vegetarians, and are too stolidly sensible a people to be stampeded by any “ eat more meat campaign. Through the experience of centuries they have arrived by natural evolution to the conclusion, however unconsciously reached, that a semivegitarian diet is suitable ioi their health, needs, and purses. If the demand for meat does happen to increase, which is most unlikely, pork will be the first affected, as this is the favourite, but even this would not affect the nation as' a whole as the Mahomedans eschew swine flesh. Taking pork, mutton and beef together China can take care of any increase .in demand'. In fact with the bringing in of vast areas of up country China proper, Manchuria and Mongolia as grazing lands China in all probability will become a meat exporting country For that matter she has been exporting meat in fair .quantities for years past, notably, at one time, to the Philliplries for the use of the United States Army there. / New Zealand Products. That disposes' of the only commodities New Zealand has to offer for the culinary uses of the general masses in China with the exception of condensed milk. Although the use of milk was not common among the Chinese, its introduction in the condensed form had a satisfactory reception, a fa'ct which cannot he said of butter. There certainly is a market for condensed milk but a most difficult one to enter in face of the hold the American article has. The Chinese is among the most naturally conservative of men, and is apt to shy at exactly the same commodity displayed under a different label —the novelty might grip his imagination for the moment, but interest would lapse unless meLhods mentioned later are adopted.

That sums up the not very promising prospects among the peasants and labouring classes who constitute the greater portion of China’s population. The Rich Classes. Turning to the official, 'business, and professional classes the outlook is slightly more optimistic, although as they are so relatively few' in numbers prospects even among them are: none too alluring. What has been said of condensed milk holds good with them. Synonymous with the condensed variety are powdered and baby foods. With butter' there is every likelihood of an increasing demand, but that does not necessarily imply for the foreign article. The rich Chinese is the very reverse to his poorer brother in matters, of the palate. Rich,' exotic foods appeal to him, and he stands unrivalled as a confirmed gourmet, not to say gourmand. Gathered in cities as they are for the most part, what one samples in a restaurant or at the table of a friend he- promptly tries in his own home. With the increasing number of Southern Chinese edycated abroad and therefore acquainted with Western customs butter as the regular accompaniment of a meal becomes naturally an accepted practice when abroad. On return to their own country it is the Chinese habit to gradually relapse ' into ■ Chinese ways, the countering of which, as regards food, can only be ' attempted by methods propounded further on. Nevertheless, by his acquaintance with butter the returned student disseminates his experience among men of his class, and thus in the course of time acquaintanceship with, butter may grow into the general use of it. A Pungent Mess. Going further afield to Tibet we come to a country the very antithesis to China in that butter is in general use. But not butter of the type we are familiar with. The Tibetian product is a pungent article churned from rancid, goat’s milk and drunk melted in tea. Any hopes of trade there may be dismissed on account of the fundamental difference in the New Zealand and Tibetian article, the difference in production costs, the total lack of modern communications, the prohibitive cost of transportation by camel, and the fact that Siberia marches with a great stretch of the country’s boundaries: Chinese and cheese are not on friendly terms, a fact which precludes, at any rate for the present, any tmpes of sales there. Fond as the Chinese are of “ bitey ” (Continued in next column).

dainties and piquant condiments they have in direct contrast a decidedly sweet tooth. Honey' is appreciated by them not only straight but in the preparation of sweets and cakes. There is therefore considerable scope for developing the market in this product among the rich. The same remark applies to apples. Meat sausages and ham are consumed in considerable quantities by the rich and the better off Chinese, but their demands are more than fullymet by local production. Wool. Coming to non food stuffs naturally the most important as far as New Zealand is concerned is wool. Here again the potential market is practically restricted to the rich. Conservative to a degree as even the rich are they do not look with favour on European clothes although among a very gradually ;extending circle they are being adopted. • In future what demand there is will not doubt be met by the Chinese article. As it is, the majority use silk for the outer garment. The clothing of peasants and labourers is of cotton, winter and summer. The thicker winter coverings are merely of cotton material stuffed with cotton wool. These deductions show that New. Zealand’s chances of greatly increased trade with China are problematical in the extreme except in the case of apples, honey r and milk, while butter has but a poor outlook, the whole auguring ill for a direct steamship service. The matters of marketing, China’s native production, and the .question of return steamer freights will be dealt with in a later article. It should be observed that the articles deal with Chinese consumption alone, except where specifically mentioned.