The Exhibition at Buenos Aires— And Afterwards

BY MRS. STEUART ERSKINE.

fIN March 14th, 1981, the British Empire will have V the opportunity of " listening-in " to the speech with which the Prince of Wales will open the Exhibition at Buenos Aires. It is to be hoped that the Prince's words may galvanize our waning trade with South America and increase our friendly relations with that great sub-continent.

Our trade with South America is on the downward grade. We may attribute this fact to the general state of trade depression and to the intensive campaign carried on by the United States during the War when we had not sufficient capital to enable us to compete and wcrc suffering from a shortage of men. We may speak of the high tariff wall set up against our goods, the high cable rates, though these have recently been slightly reduced, expensive freightage, high cost of labour and the burden of our post-War taxation. With trade relations in so many parts of the world complicated by politics, we turn to the markets of the New World and find them eminently unsatisfactory. Taking Argentina as an example, the statistics published by the Depart- ment of Overseas Trade from 1925 to 1929 show the total exports (including re-exports from Great Britain to Argentina) in pounds sterling :- 1925

• • • • • • • •

29,735,332

1926 . • • •

. •

23,649,710 1927

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27,601,502 1928 • •

• •

31,773,511 1929 • •

• • • • 29,077,382

It will be noticed that in 1926, the year of the strikes and labour troubles, the total drops more than £6,000,000 and that although it rises to a higher level in 1928, it drops again in 1929 to the position we occupied five years previously.

The D'Abernon Report speaks very plainly concerning the reason of our failure to keep up with the times and to supply the demands of Latin America :— " Our failure to capture even a small proportion of these trades [Lord D'Abernon wrote] may be attributed to inability to produce on a sufficiently large scale, insufficient finance, high prices, unsuit- ability to South American needs, defective salesmanship, including inadequate advertisement, inadequate service, inadequate show- rooms, inadequate range of choice. Moreover, South America is not one market but several, and each requires separate study and a special organisation of sales."

The last sentence gives us food for thought. So many people stop short at Argentina, the best known and the most European of the States, forgetting the others with other conditions of life and other needs. They forget Portuguese Brazil, twice the size of India, Chile with its splendid coastline, the five States of Bolivar that crown the northern crest of the continent—all countries of inexhaustible resources. The last-named bring before us a page of forgotten history that may well be studied. The Bolivarian centenary, celebrated this year, reminds us that the Liberator, Bolivar, was energetically sup- ported by England during the struggle for independence, when Canning made his farseeing and pleasantly arrogant remark : " I called the New World into existence to redress the balance of the Old."

Besides the historic connexion with Bolivar's States, we may note that there are beauty spots such as Quito, the capital of Ecuador, known as the " City of eternal spring," perched on a spur of the Andes, 9,350 feet above sea level, and many others, which, as the world grows smaller and people travel farther afield, will indubitably come into favour as winter resorts.

To return to the Exhibition, it is expected that visitors from all the South African republics will visit it and that they will find it interesting, not only from the engineering point of view, but from many others as well. The important aviation section is sure to attract attention, not before it is due, to our progress in that field. Our textile and other industries may be well represented, but it is to be feared that the artistic side of our national production is neglected. Messrs. Bumpus are showing examples of book production, but what are the publishers doing ? With regard to art, the Royal British Colonial Association of Artists contributes a limited number of pictures by the members, to which a possible exhibition of miniatures and needlework pictures may be added ; but what are other painters doing ? Do painters and sculptors not realize that South America is a generous patron of the arts ? When a collection of the works of the Spanish painter Anglada Camarasa was being organized, it was discovered that owing to so many of his pictures being in South America, it was no easy task ; and, again, the earliest patrons of the great French sculptor Bourdelle were the Argentines.

Art is indifferent, the Drama is dumb ; it is true that • there will be Cinemas, but the films will 'be limited 'to trade shows. Music will be represented by the band of the 2nd Battalion of the Cameron Highlanders and their pipers.

It may be argued that we are concerned with the increase of our trade and that an exhibition of the arts is "out of the picture " ; but surely our intention should also be to create a better understanding with South America ; if that be so, then there is a spiritual side to the entente. The South American objects to his country being looked on merely as a grain or meat producht country—to be exploited. He is conscious of the adVance made in the various States in scientific research, art and literature ; in the field of poetry, especially, Latin America has contributed a number of lyric poets froni Rubin Dario onwards. And that is where Commerce and Culture meet, and that is the root of the movement that Sir Charles Bedford has started with the avowed intention of training our prospective salesmen and saleswomen before they start on their travels in Spanish- speaking lands. ' The Anglo-Spanish and Spanish- American Institute in London, of which the Prince of Wales is the Patron and Sir Charles the Honorary Director, aims at giving the employees of firms trading with South America stimulative teaching rather than an academic course of Spanish ; it aims at giving the students some idea of the country, the manners and customs Of the people and the mentality of the nation, so that it will be more easy to establish a real under- standing with the individuals with whom they will come in contact.

The Institute, which will be the first of a chain of similar centres, has for counterparts the Institutes of other nations trading in Latin America, showing that the nations that are our trade rivals are fully conscious of the importance of this side of the question.

No one is more conscious of this need for a closer co-operation and a more sympathetic understanding than the Prince of Wales ; he has not only spoked repeatedly on methods of salesmanship and the necessity of mastering the language, whether Spanish or Portuguese ; he has himself studied Spanish syste- matically and loses no opportunity of using the language of Cervantes in his public speeches and private conversation. The fact that he has taken the liveliest interest in the Trade Exhibition and that he has consented to open it in person has given a great incentive to the undertaking and has practically ensured its success. Whether or no the Exhibition will really react in favour of our dwindling commerce depends on the energy or indifference of our merchants.