French Islands

Australian Trade With

A SIDELIGHT on some of the difficulties which are encountered by exporters of Australian products is provided by an incident which has occurred in connec tion with the sale of Australian canned fruit, jams, etc., in Tahiti.

The French authorities in Tahiti passed a law requiring the country of origin to be embossed on all tins containing pre served fruits. This shut out Australian products from a market that, while not very large, is regarded as valuable. It appeared that the cost of embossing the tins in the manner demanded was larger than was justified by the volume of trade.

A merchant interested made a protest to the Trade Commissioner for France (M. Georges Bader, of Sydney), and asked if it would be possible to vary the regula tion in favour of Australian goods.

M. Bader replied that the moment was not at all opportune for making the application. “The actual policy of the French Government is to buy from coun tries which in turn buy from France,” said M. Bader in a letter dated August 9, “and this is not the case with Australia.

Therefore, until the Government of Aus tralia. is ready to grant to France, who has been one of her best clients for many years past, concessions which will enable her to sell her manufactured goods on the Australian market, France and her colonies have no desire to buy from Aus tralia.”

The matter, subsequently, was brought formally under the notice of the Islands Trade section of the Sydney Chamber of Commerce, by Mr. R. W. Robson.