Growing Tragedy of Australia's

Pacific Trade

Vol. 1—No. 11

June, 1931

IF there is one thing more than another that Australia wants, it is an oversea export trade for the pro ducts of Australia’s secondary indus tries. Every now and again a Federal minister, making wild and violent ges tures, publicly declares that something really worth while must be done to find a market for Australian manu factured goods. Yet, when one repeat edly shows how a rich and friendly market for Australian goods can be developed no notice whatever is taken.

One would get as much result from singing “Boyne Water” on the top of Kosciusko, as from placing carefully compiled facts and figures before Aus tralian Governments.

In this issue of The Pacific Islands Monthly there are four outstanding news items. The Government of Fiji has erected a further tariff barrier against the goods of unfriendly Aus tralia by giving definite preference to the goods of other British Dominions.

The people of Norfolk Island are eag erly completing arrangements for the development of a new trade with New Zealand and turning away in a corres ponding degree from trade with Australia. The French community in New Caledonia, discouraged by the hostile demonstration made by Aus tralia through the medium of its extreme tariffs, has offered to establish new steamer communication wdth New Zealand with a view to stimulating trade between the two colonies and buying from N.Z. the foodstuffs it usu ally gets from Australia. The British community in the New Hebrides continues to cry out impotently for some method of transferring money to Australia, so that Australia may continue to supply the New Hebrides with a portion of the £300,000 worth of goods which the Group annually imports.

Now, consider the circumstances.

Every one of these Territories is within a few days’ sail of Australia. They are countries of primary production— it is essential that they import all the kinds of manufactured goods required to sustain life in a sub-tropical climate.

Australia, at frightful cost to itself, has established all kinds of manufacturing industries. Australia, because of its proximity, is the market to which these Pacific countries naturally turn. Fiji is a rich and rapidly growing British colony. Norfolk Island is not only wholly European—it is actually a part of the Australian Commonwealth. Yet all this trade, which is worth no less than £3,000,000 annually, is either being ignored by official Australia; or is being actually driven away by hostile tariffs and other short-sighted Govern ment actions.

The expenditure of a few pounds by the Commonwealth Government in making a commercial survey of this market, or even a few friendly ges tures by offiialdom towards these large Pacific communities, would certainly do a great deal towards holding for Australia a market that she has held in the past by geographical advantage, but which she is now rapidly losing in these competitive days by ignorance and indifference.