DANGEROUS DELAYS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2908, 21 October 1916, Page 8

DANGEROUS DELAYS

The Imperial Government docs not seem to be making much speed with its measures "to give'effect to. the c!ecisioYis of the Paris Economic Confojence. A dagger appears that unlcsslthe problem is attacked with greateij vigour the opportunity may be losl of creating an industrial and commercial organisation calculated "to defeat Germany in the economic •• struggle which' will follow the war.' The .Conference resolutions were emphatic alike in refard to tho desirability of measures or tho suppression of enemy trade, by prohibition of importation and otherwise, and in regard to promoting and fostering the trade and industries of Allied countries, in the period after tho war, but so far as Great Britain is concerned the whole matter was carried back practically to the starting'point when a committee was set up by the Imperial Government in July to consider :

(a) What industries are essential to the future safety of the nation, and what steps are necessary to establish them; -..'

(t>).What steps are necessary to recover the home, and foreign'.trade which has been lost during the war; and to 6ecure new markets. • ■ •-.

' (c) To what extent and by what : means the Empire's resources can bs developed, (d) To what extent and by what means the Empire's sources of supply can be prevented from ; falling -under foreign control...-., . ■ ' ■•

AVhat progress, the' committee has made with its inquiry has not been stated, but Mil.' Asquite's latest pronouncement on the subject of the Conference ■ decisions, made a few days ago, leaves the whole position regrettably, open. Certainly there is nothing in the remarks of the Imperial Prime Minister to suggest that action of a practical character is contemplated at an early date. He simply said that.it would be a difficult matter to secure the presence of Dominion representatives in London to ' confer as to the .methods of putting the decisions of the Paris. Conference in practical operation, at-an'early date—mention of "an early date" no doubt merely .repeats a phrase of. the question to which Me. Asquith was replying—but that no decision would be' reached without consulting the Dominions.

This extremely inconclusive' way of dealing with .-.a problem which demands very different treatment must generate a suspicion that Mk. Asquith is at host half-hearted i in regard to the measures.which would follow naturally upon the decisions of -the great Conference at Paris. The necessity of consulting the Dominions certainly gives the. Imperial Government no excuse for resting upon its oars, more especially as several of the Dominions have already determined upon a policy of as far as possible eliminating German trade after, the war. There 'is. no doubt that if the Imperial Government drew up a working programme designed to anticipate and' defeat Germany's designs of trade aggression and conquest after the war, the practical difficulties impeding consultation with tho Dominions could bo quickly overcome. It is to be feared, however, that tho real obstacle to energetic action by the_ Imperial Government in the direction .of .formulating a strong trade policy consists in tho rcluctanco that is felt, inside and outsido its own ranks, to jettisoning the Free-trade policy, oven though that policy is manifestly inconsistent with the measures which must be taken if Germany's after-war designs arc to be defeated. To those who have eyes to-see and cars to hear the lessons of the last two

years- ha.vo been conclusive in regard to the national character and aims ol our enemies, but there is a diehard Free-trade party in England which ' remains obstinately blind t.o the fact that commercial interpenetration and the eventual domination of other . countries, in Germany's accepted trade policy. Hopes have-been entertained that 'Mr. Asq.uith - and : -his principal Free-trado colleagues had cut de.finitcly apart from this faction, but any such belief is shaken by tbe slow progress made towards evolving such a trade policy as will en--able the Empire to deal with German rivalry after the war. A sweoping chango in commercial policy is not to bo effected in a day. and the matter is emphatically, one which demands the earliest attention. Wo seem, however, to bo pretty much where we were when the Paris Conference announced its decisions in June, four months ago, and Me. Asquith, as "spokesman for the Imperial Government, holds out remarkably little hope of better progress in the immediate 'future.