Japan In The
p. 29 · Read in the full issue
Gilberts
Ruthless Attack on Australian Trade
From Our Own Correspondent.
Tarawa, Mar. 11.
THE Japanese motor-ship “Seikai Maru’ called on February 20 at Tarawa, the port of entry for the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony, to “enter-inward” through the Customs ’De partment for the purpose of trading at Butaritari, one of the northern islands of the Group, where a powerful Japanese merchant firm (Nanyo Boyeki Kaisha.
Ltd.) with headquarters in Tokyo, have a well-established trading branch.
This firm is a serious competitor against the existing Australian merchant and shipping interests in the Colony, particularly in respect to copra trading’.
The fact that Nanyo Boyeki Kaisha, Ltd., have for a considerable time offered £2 per ton more than the ruling buying rates for native copra in the Gilberts is responsible for widespread conviction that the company’s trading operations are subsidised by the Japanese Govern ment, with a view to obtaining a firmer foothold in the Pacific by “peaceful pene tration” methods.
The present state of the copra market leaves Australian-owned copra-trading concerns no profitable margin on the buying-price set by Japanese competitors.