EMPIRE TRADE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20102, 4 December 1930, Page 11

EMPIRE TRADE.

THE DOMINIONS' OFFER. GOVERNMENT'S ATTITUDE CRITICISED. ADVERSE VOTE IN HOUSE OP LORDS. iMIViSS ASSOCI.VJrOK" —BY MELEGUAPII COPVItIGIIT.^ (Received December 3rd, S. 15 p.m.) LONDON, December '2. In tiio House of Lords Lord Ilailsham, in an unusually crowded House, moved a motion deploring the Government's failure to respond to tlio Dominions' offers aiming at close fecal relations. He said that, thanks to the Government's obstinacy and mismanagement, it had let down the people of Great Britain and the Empire. It had made up its mind before the Imperial Conference against tariff preference, which the Conference never seriously considered He was not surprised at Mr J. 11. Thomas's (Secretary for the Dominions, offensive arid unjustified phrnso, "humbug," for Mr Philip Snowden (Chancellor of the Exchequer) before the Conference, in a Press article, described all the talk of Imperial preference as "bunkum." It we did not prefer tho possibilities of a United Empire to election cries of dear food, then disinU-rgration of the Empire must inevitably follow. Lord lla.ilhltam declared. The only hope for the Ottawa Conference was for the people of Great Britain to be given a chance to condemn tho Government's bigotry and pedantry. Lord IVw-sfield, reply! til;, said that Mr It. B. Bennett (Prime Minister of Canada) proposed that Great Britain should reverse her fiscal policy by taxation of food, while Canada merely altered details of he-.- own policy. It was not the policy of the Labour Party or of tha Liberals, nor as yet even the Conservatives, to tax wheat imports for the sake of preference. Mr Stanley Baldwin's (Conservative Lender) latest declaration did not propose a tax on imported wheat, but to subsidise home-grown grain out of the proceeds of duties on imported manufactures.

Lord Hailsliam's motion *i\-as carried by 74 votes to 10.

RECIPROCAL PREFERENCES RELATIONS WITH DOMINIONS OUTLINED. (BKItISH OFFICIAL. WIRELESS.) (Received December 3rd, 5.5 p.m.) RUGBY, December 2. The present position regarding the development of reciprocal preferences with tlu Dominions was reviewed by the Secretary for Dominion Affairs (Mr J. H. Thomas), in answers to a series of questions in the House of Commons. He Baid that no offor relating to the sale of Canadian wheat in Great Britain on a basis of reciprocal preference had been made since the findings of the Imperial Conference had been published. The next stage was an investigation, which had already beon initiated by the Government, into the methods whereby it could be accomplished. In the case of wheat the obvious reciprocal agreement would bo regarding coal, which ho had endeavoured to effect fifteen months ago. Coal, however, was also produced in Canuda, who felt it necessary to put a tariff on soft coal. Regarding Australia, Mr Thomas recalled a speech made at the Imperial Conference in winch tho Prime Minister of Australia (Mr J. H. Scullin) said that Australia would be willing, as part of a definite policy of Imperial economic co-operation, to consult with representatives of British manufacturers as to the possibility of affording a greater degree of preference to certain goods, without sacrificing any important Australian interests; also of considering representations of the manufacturers for getting full advantage of the preferences. No exchange of views on the possibility of developing reciprocal preferences with New Zealand had taken place since the conference had closed, and as to whether anything could be done to take advantage of the New Zealand Prime Minister's offer. He recalled that when the possibilities of the quota sj-Btem were being examined, the enquiry would start with wheat, which applied mainly to Canada and Australia, and would then consider what particular quota was applicable in tho case of butter and cheese, in which New Zealand was mainly interested.