The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1909. TARIFFS IN THE EMPIRE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 606, 8 September 1909, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1909. TARIFFS IN THE EMPIRE.

to^ ; C!HAMpEEiiAiN;-;opened! the Tariff : Ref orm .campaign, iji : JBO3 \; few pebp)e.;imagino'4 that the Empire was in forseveral yoarfl of ;o fierce economiq con« troversy, .tint,;.was''ijever, ■to, : ;.fl'a'g for ".-a single cbnvinoed: that'.:th6 j movement would speedily 'exhaust"itself and tho .Tariff Reformers were- equally confident::tbat':they 'would. aweep./Fre'etrado: out of ithei field ./after ;a: sharp and ,vigorous engagement. .Nobody imagined; that after :oearly'six and, a half years' the'war wpuld still be proceeding. -The questiohV however,' is.as: !far ■from settlement as :oyer it was,.as'wa'^arq-reminded by the: fact /that, in.Sydney! next;week a! Congress of the Chambers of Commerce of the Empirciß to .go over the whole ground of the 'controversy pnco: more, i To say .that the delegates to tho Congress can , find nothing ''new to.-; say .upon" what- is :the. : most -fertile 1 subject 'of .'. debate conceivable is really a quite inadequate way; .''of ■ .'suggesting :, tho profusion of,. tho ;.wHtings and,speeches upon Tariff Reform.; Millions of speeches ,and articles havo appeared --'on >.tno. subject ; in the.past six years, and-the literature of commerce { , and economics has reaped from the controversy a harvest of thousands of volumos. ;We' have '• never seon'any statistics' on the .'point, but it is. probably quite safe to say that the litovaturd that has gathored about Tariff •Reform in the past six-years far exceeds in volumo the literaturo of any other singlo topic .that has'over engaged the attention of mankind. This boing the, case, it is obviously, vain to expect that the forthcoming Congress* in Sydney will shed;any fresh light-on-tho-central 'difficulty,, .whathat. Britain will act'

'wisely or, unwisely should she abandon her policy of Freotrade ' There is much, however, that the Con- ; gross may do. It may assist to a clearer understanding of the ical feelings of the various self-governing dominions of the Empae, and it will almost coitainly stimulate and strengthen tho tendencj o f thebc dominions to exchange trade piefcrcnccs Thero aie other matters to hi discussed at tho Congress, but, as home of the delegates have stated in Brisbane, tho chief question to be dealt with is preferential. trade within the Empire One of the principal resolutions is that submitted by tho Toronto Board of Tiado,, in which it is assorted that "an advantageous commercial bond is the stiongest link in national umtj"> and that "the bonds of tho British Empire ■■would be materially strengthened and the union of the various parts of his Majesty's dominions greatly consolidated by the adoption of a, commercial policy based upon tho principle of mutual benefit, whtfreby each component part of the Empire would rcceue a substantial advantage in trade, as tho result of its national relationship" The resolution urges tho appointment of a committee to devise a scheme for submission to the Homo and Colonial Governments , The London Chamber of Commerce, will submit a similar resolution, in which tho Governments of tho Empire are urged to treat tho matter "as of present practical importance." The New Zealand delegates will submit no resolutions, nor, so far as wo are aware, have they any in- : structions as to the attitude which they are to assume. They may with perfect safety, however, lend their full support to tho general principle of trade reciprocity within tho Empire. Frcetrad-1 ers and Tariff Reformers in Britain are | agreed as to the wisdom of this policy, i The great difficulty in all the discussions on Imperial tariffs is the absence of any ' general agreement as to the goal which i is to bo aimed at Is that goal to be a I solf-contained Empire, or is it to be | simply Freetrade, or virtual Freetiadc,, tho Empire ? No man can say as I yet whether it is possible that on somo futuro day the Empire can prosper m a commercial isolation from the rest of the world. No wide and serious investigates have been made towards a settlement of that problem; yet settled it| must bo if tho Empire is to avoid mak-1 ing fiscal mistakes. ,

Tho coming Congress cannot give us much more than generalities, but it will perform a very useful sorvico if it makes up its mind to provido tho heavy spadework of a comprehensive examination of the whole question. This would involve the appointment of committees to collect statistics and investigate trade conditions in greater detail than l]as hitherto been the caso. It is not enough to show that the preferential tariff of ono colony has tended to curtail the foreign imports in favour of the goods of another colony. It must bo shown that such results are beneficial 1 to the country giving' tho preforence Wo have little doubt that the results are on tho whole really beneficial, when the preference works through rebates rather than the suiiax ,We require also to know what effect upon Britain would be produced by a tariff against the foreigner. In the meantime it is to bo hoped that,the feeling in New Zealand, which is undoubtedly tho genpial f6chng of all sober > people in the overseas Empire, will manifest itself m the discussions of tho Congress, We need hardly say that that feeling is that while tho colonies may give" each other piofcrcntial treatment thoro is,no desiw to forco Britain into placing the interests of the dominions above tho interests of her own people. To ask Britain to onset a tariff wall against >our foreign rivals m her markets is exactly the same as if Britain were to ask us to abolish import duties on all British goods Un-* til Britain of her own free will alters her , fiscal policy tho colonies must bo content | to do what they can in the way of assist-1 ing each other. Imperial reciprocity must proceed in the overseas Empire without reference to tho policy of Bri r ' tain, who, it must never be forgotten, 1 already enables tho colonies to livo as free nations, and without whose guardianship the greatest of tho colonics would bo at the mercy of the world