A.—s

242

exports is plain —they lie in manufactured goods and in classes of those goods in which our local manufacturers are not conspicuous. Mr. ASQUITH: Which are the classes of your own local or native manufacturers which you have shown in this development —wool ' Mr. DEAKIN: We do not reckon wool as a manufacture, except as woollen cloth. Mr. ASQUITH : Yes. I meant yarn or cloth. Mr. DEAKIN : Speaking from memory, there has been a growth, but not a large or rapid growth, of woollen manufacture. There may be some increase in the making of apparel. * Mr. ASQUITH : -Boots and shoes : Mr. DEAKIN : Yes, some increase, but none, I think, in cabinet or upholstery ware worth mentioning, nor in glass, hardware, and cutlery (cutlery we do not manufacture), nor in paper or silk manufactures. Mr. ASQUITH : I suppose you have practically no cutlery manufactures i Mr. DEAKIN : None. Our manufactures are still in their infancy. To interpret these facts aright, one or two possible explanations suggested must be disposed of. The expansion of the foreign a I the expense of the British trade with Australia is not due to any superior quality or cheapness of the foreign-made article. England can manufacture most descriptions of exportable goods as cheaply as can any foreign country, and there need be no increase of general prices to the Australian consumer, had the Mother Country a larger share of the Australian import trade. Of course, some portion of British loss of trade, has, undoubtedly, arisen from the conservativeness of British methods, but the extent of the loss thus arising has been greatly overrated. The present position of British trade in Australia is almost wholly due to the settled policy adopted by most foreign countries, of reserving their home markets for their own produce, and reserving their competition for other, especially British markets, for by this policy they are enabled, step by step, to oust Great Britain from the trade of her possessions. Something must lie said of the manner in which foreign trade is conducted, for this is detrimental to the interests of all the producing States that receive their goods. It has been amply demonstrated that the practice of " Dumping/ or the placing of large quantities of produce below cost price, tends To destroy established industries in the countries receiving the dumped goerds. This practice is at times largely employed by foreign manufacturers to injure British trade, not only in Australia but everywhere. Great Britain gets nothing in return for her gift of her markets from her rivals. She makes them a present of it, and, so far as I have observed, does not even secure their friendship in return. Mr. ASQUTTII : Can yon give me any case of dumping in Australia on a substantial scale?

Eighth Day. 30 April 1907,

Preferential Trade. (Mr. Deakin.)