The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, MAY 23, 1913.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 3839, 23 May 1913, Page 4

The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. FRIDAY, MAY 23, 1913.

It is unquestionably tha position that

The West of England Trade.

evidence is not wanting that the near future will as vSir James

Hills recently foreshadowed, witness striking developments in connection with the shipping facilities between the Colonies and the West of England ports. As is well-known the Argentine has long appreciated the advantages of trading in a large way with these ports as well as to London, and the consequence is that the produce of that great country is in. strong demand iat Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, and, in addition, at Glasgow. When Colonial meat, etc., can, however, compete on more equal terms as to charges, etc., with meat from tho Argentine in those great distributing centres—and the day is surely not far distant when such will bo the case?—there is every reason to suppose it will then result in there being a very different story to tell. So far as the Colonies are concerned it is, of course, the position that they are now fast realising that they could, with very little effort, secure a much more considerable proportion of the West Coast trade in foodstuffs. In the case of this Dominion the results of Mr Lysnar's crusade, for instance, show quite clearly that many producers in this country feel that tho time is already ripe when nt any rate a great deal of our frozen meat, etc., should he sent direct to the West of England instead of as hitherto mostly to London. The company which he is desirous of seeing established will, it would seem, soon be an accomplished fact and what is more it is claimed that no difficulty will bo experienced mi arranging for regular shipments. ButNew Zealand is not the only country in this part of the woi'ld which is moving in this matter. It will have been gathered from a cable which we published yesterday morning that Mr Watt, Premier of Victoria, expressed the opinion at Manchester that if the West Coast ports were prepared to unite with the Australian State Governments with a view to the inauguration of a shipping service for the development of trade in. foodstuffs his government would be w illing to share the burden. What is more it was stated in tho same message that an immediate response to tho offer had been made by the Manchester pent authorities who had promised definite proposals to that end. As the matter is of considerable interest to New Zealand we may also mention that when Mr Watt was in London some weeks ago he publicly stated that he was not satisfied with the system under which Victorian produce went almost entirely to London, lie intended, he continued, to consult the mercantile firms handling produce from the country which he represented as to the best method of improving the existing arrangements. “If they agree with me that decentralisation is in the interests or Australian trade,’’ added Mr. Wait, “m v next step will probably be to see whether it Ls possible to encourage the introduction of one or more lines of steamship services to help in developing the trade to oilier ports than London. This is a matter which more directly belongs to tho Commonwealth Government, as the Commonwealth has charge of our oversea trade, but. as the Commonwealth Government- docs not seem inclined to do anything, it rests with the various State Governments to deal with it in the interests of producers. It may be that the Victorian Government will ask the Governments of some of the other Australian States to co-operate 'with it in this matter, but if they are unwilling to do so, we will push on with the scheme in the interests of the producers of our State. While many of our exports such as wool and metals find their own markets, we have to find tho markets for our foodstuffs and to enter into competition with tho great food producing countries of tho world." It is clearly the position, then, that the Home merchants who have the handling of Victorian produce favored decentralisation in connection with marketing, or Air. Watt would not liavo spoken so definitely, as lio is now reported to have done at Manchester. New Zealand cannot, of course, afford to lag behind in regard to such an important matter. It would, then, be interesting to learn what steps, if any, the Government of this country would be prepared to adopt in order to assist in tho development of a largo direct trade between this Dominion and the West Ooast ports of the United Kingdom •