The Dominion. THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1913. THE IMPERIAL TRADE COMMISSION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1691, 6 March 1913, Page 4

The Dominion. THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1913. THE IMPERIAL TRADE COMMISSION.

Those people (wo are afraid they are only, a comparatively small section of the public) who have read the newspaper reports of the sittings of the Imperial Trade Commission, which opened its inquiries in this city yesterday, will have made up their minds that the> members of the Commission are keen and sagacious men. Much of the evidence which they have had to listen to has been painfully poor stuff, and they could count, we should say, upon a very great number of, sympathisers with them if' they wished to appeal for sympathy. An amazing deal of irrelevance and obvious facts which everybody takes for granted has been presented to Sin Edgar Vincent and his colleagues, but we suppose that this was inevitable, especially in New Zealand. At the same time some of the witnesses have had interesting facts to bring forward, or have put their facts from interesting points of view, and it is to be noted that now. and then the Commission has, in such eases, had some interesting questions to put in return. We may note as a case in point the freshness which was given to a moderately stale fact by the manner in which the Commission applied itself to Mil. Maijin's references to the balanoe between imports and exports. One could wish that we could retain our visitors to investigate the whole financial and economic position of our country and report specially upon it. N<i doubt, however, so loose and general is the order of reference, wo may

confidently expect to find in the Commission's report, when it at last appears, what we have never had before, and what it would have been much to the country's advantage to have had many years ago, namely, a report by trained thinkers and men of affairs upon the situation of this country as seen in the light of broad principles, New Zealand is a very tiny bit of the Empire, and her affairs of inappreciable importtin ce in themselves, so that it will only be when they are moving in a larger air that the Commissioners will find their inquiries really fruitful and helpful towards an understanding of the larger national and commercial tissues. But even from New Zealand the Commissioners will carry' away much that is valuable. Even if they have to listen for hours to crude statements of simple facts, or to elaborate statements of little or no relevance to any Imperial issue with which they are concerned, the Commissioners will learn much from their intercourse with those whom they meet outside the investigation chamber. Moreover, they will be able to grasp, as a responsible Commission, what it is so difficult for the individual visitor to grasp, namely, the New Zealand point of view. That there, is such a point of view goes without saying, just as there is an Australian and a Canadian point of view. With all the best will in the world no British statesman can perform the feat of projecting his mind into a New Zealand or Australian or Canadian body, and it will be a great aid to sound thinking by British statesmen to have a stereoscopic view of the Empire: to see the Empire, as the Commission will draw it, from all the angles. W 7 e may .take other occasions to discuss some of the subjects brought to the Commission's notice, but-Just now we have 'desired only to point out how valuable the Commission's report can be, and valuable not only to the public men of Great Britain, but also to ourselves. For it will be good to be understood at Home, and poocl also to see ourselves and our affairs in the light of the Commission's judgment.