LINKS OF EMPIRE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3146, 26 July 1917, Page 6

LINKS OF EMPIRE

SHIPPING SERVICE ' PROBLEMS CHEAPER TRANSPORTATION IMPERIAL CONTROL - ADVOCATED (from a Correspondent.) London,, ,' : uno G. In the opinion of a good inany people cheaper transportation between the various Dominions and Great Britain will do more to cement the unity cf tho Empire than any other step that could be devised. Tho enormous profits that are being piled up by the shipping companies, despite the submarine campaign, and the growth- of the great shipping rings and combines are directing attention to this matter in a very forcible nay. Only last- week, for instance, Same the announcement of the inclusion of the Union Company in the P. and 0., British India, and Shaw-Saviil combine, and minor amalgamations are of common occurrence. The combines are becoming so great and thejr ramifications so far-reach-ing that it will soon be out of the question for the Dominions to doal with the shipping question individually. The evidence collected by the recent.Dominons Royal Commission, which is worth careful study by all who are interested in this question, showed clearly that uncontrolled private enterprise in .-'hipping and Imperial policy have by 110 means run on parallel lines, and it would be folly to forget- the penny-wise and pound-fool-ish policy of preference to German goods adopted by certain British companies engaged _ in the Australasian trade. The Imperial Conference have passed- pious resolutions on the subject of shipping communications from time to time, but one looks in vain for practical results. No public statement as to what transpired in this connection at the n cent Imperial War Cabinet lias been made, but at the Imperial Conference, sitting on alternate days with the War Cabinet, Sir Joseph Ward's notice of motion for I the establishment of a permanent organisation for the development of the Kim pire's resources and the strengthening of imperial linos of communication was not even discussed, and tho whole question held over owing to the pressure of war business. A well-known and persevering advocate of the creation of an Empire Development Board is Captain Richard Jtbb, and special interest attaches to tho paper read by him on tho subject at a meeting of the Koyal Colonial Institute yesterday. Captain .febb's contention is that tho two main questions of preference and communications have really passed tho stage of inquiry and bu-omo questions of policy—will vou « won't you havo them carried cut? So tar, I the ' only joint enterprise that has been carried through •?,, th ° Pacific cable. That -took ntteen years from start to finish'. It never came out of the region of talk until Mr. Josoph Chamberlain, as Secretary of State for tho Colonies, set up a special board and put it through. At the conference of 1907 Mr. Deakin mado a proposal for tho creation of a board to develop fast mail services and Stateowned cablo system aud other schemes from a joint Imperial fund. 'Beyond a lively discussion nothing came of the matter at tho time. Foreign Trade Favoured. Reviewing the subsequent course of events, Captain Jebb notes that tho projects of 1907 for the All-Red route service, State-owned cables, anil the reduction of tho Suez Canal dues, wero folloived up in the old casual, spasmodic way, and before the conferenco of 1911 met had ono and all fizzled out again. When towards the end of the session of 1911 the British Government announced that a Eoyal Commission was being set up to inquire generally into the resources of tho Dominion and the possibilities of developing trade within they Empire by other than fiscal means, no'great enthusiasm was excited. To-day it needs a real effort to recall the atmosphere of that time. What really seemed wanting was not information, but the will-to-action in Downing Street. However, when the Commission met it had the report of the conference of 1911 beforo.it. Among other matters which had been discussed were some very serious difficulties {relating to shipping. Both Australia and New Zealand had been trying, by different methods, to build up a local mercantile marine on a white labour basis, and both had reached a deadlock' owing to the influence exerted in Loudon by the opposing interests. There was consequently much heartburning, and these Dominions were even contemplating, it- was said, tho establishment of a joint State-owned.service of cargoboats for the European trade. Again,, the South African Government complained that the steamship companies were' using tho system of deferred rebates to defeat its policies. It sought the cooperation of the British Government, on tho ground that effective control of rates, etc., could not be maintained unless it were exercised at both ends of the line. The Trade and Industry Committee of the Institute was further aware of numerou's cases in which the shipping companies seemed to favour . foreign rather than Britannic trade, sometimes even neutralising the Britannic preferences in Dominion tariffs. In particular it drew the attention of the Eoyal Commission to the growing tendency for British steamship companies not only to form mergers among themselves, the larger absorbing the smaller, but also to make agreements with the big foreign companies, especially the German, with little regard to Empire interests. It was concluded, therefore, 'that tho Empire urgently needed some system oT joint control'over freight rates and shipping conditions generally. As to the settlement of disputes, an idea was got from Canadian experience. This was that the Development Board might be called upon to investigate any dispute, and publish the actual facts, together with its own view of tho merits of the case, afterwards relying on the moral pressure of public opinion to procure a settlement accordingly. 1 Empire Development Board. The summary of the Trade .and Industry Committee's final scheme as presented to the Koyal Commission represents in Captain Jebb's opinion the most prac- / Heal conception hitherto of an Empire Development Board, not over-ambitious, but designed to meet certain' long-recog-nised wants bv methods which experience has justified.'The Trade Committee suggested that the functions of the board should be: „ . (1) To act as trustee of the Empire Fund, which they proposed should he contributed by such Governments as cared to participate: (2) To "promote" such schemes, involving inter-State co-ope"ation and expenditure, 0,1 it might bo asked to undertake by two or more of the contributory Governments; to work nut Die detail's prepare estimates, apportion the cost' and. subject to the endorsement of the detailed scheme by the several Governments concerned in each; -' (3) To carrv such schemes into etlect. (-1) Itself to suggest schemes appropriate to that common nolicy which the fact of the board's existence would im(f>i To take over the duly of arranging and financing all mail or telegraph services involving subsidies from two or more ftovcrnments' with the Empire: (fi) To watch and report upon the interests or trade with Hk> Empire as nftVctod by maritime communications. n»d in case of injurious developments to take or recommend suitable action: {") To report at the request nf nnv imrticipaiit Government upon any question concerning vlio onoralion. from am" standpoint nf public interest, of my of the maritime services nf the Empire, i.e.. steamship services, whether mail or cargo, and telegraph services, by cable or wirelpss. Thus the duty of the board would be partly advisory and partly executive, its' executive function would jomnrace not only the carrying out of approved sthenics, but also the permanent mail- j . agomont of each. The board would nal.ur- I

ally therefore take over tho existing - Pacific Cable Board. Likewise it would be responsible for tho management of any similar joint services. In its executive capacity, wo suggested, the board might act by sections, representing only (lie Governments contributing to Hie particular scheme. Hut in its advisory and semi-judicial capaciiies it might net collectively. Royal Commission's Scheme. Willi that let us now compare the actual proposal of the Ko.hil Commissioners, In the report the functions nf the proposed Development Board are summarised a.s follows:— . (a) To continue, complete, rnd ihereafter keep up to date the survey begun by us (the Eoyal Commissioners) of the relation between the production and requirements of the Empire in the matter of food supplies, raw materials, and all otjier commodities essential to its well-being: ()>) To watch and report v.pon the changing requirements of the Empire iu respect of such materials and . commodities, and to mature plans for promoting and improving their production vithi" the Empire: . (c )To investigate.in collaboration with existim: institutions nndr'coinniittees for scientific research— 3 ill The possibilities of nroduetinn within the Empire of such of these essential materials and commodities as now are. or may in the future tie found to he, mainly produced' and controlled outside its limits, as well as the possibilities of new supplies .generally: (2) The best means of promoting efficiency and preventing waste in existing methods of production; 13) The possibilities of the utilisation of substitutes for essential 'commodities which are- not found to be availablo within the Empire; ' '(d) To consider and devise roeyns for the direction of Empire capital towards the development oM3mmre resources; (e) To study Hie larger aspects of migration within the Empire with a view to securing- and maintaining a sufficiency of population .in all its pai<fs; >, (f) To advise on the adequacy for 7mneriaL requirements of schemes of harbour/.improvement in certain of- the norts within the Envnire: (g) To study lines of communication by steamship, cable, or railway which are eonH'ibutorv and necessary'to Imperial develonment; fh) To study and-report upon legislation affecting the mechanism of fratio in its widest sense, and to krep in-touch with development in similar legislation thrnu'liouT the world; (i) To prepare and publish Imperial statistics. t Action or Advice. > Contrasting the scheme of the Colonial. Institute'with the recommendations of the Commission, Captain Jel>b says the- first point to notice is that all these functions are purely advisory. Regarding the board as an experimental instil tutioii tho Commission decided to go no further than that. Ho the Hoard is, to investigate a great variety of subjects, but to have no power to execute anything except reports for other people to. 'pigeon-hole. But the Empire need first and foremost a definite economic policy, of which the primary aim should be to make it always easier and generally more profitable for- British people to make lionies; produce commodities, or invest money within the Empire than in foreign countries. Secure that condition and all tho rest will follow naturally. MSst of those who have studied this question independently of political parties agree in holding that Empire development, so far as it demands joint action by the several Governments, involves two main policies, which are not alternatives at all but complementary and necessary to each other. They may be expressed in two words—preference and communications. Without those twin pleasures, which are' mutually dependent, no amount of research or reports is going to develop tho resources of the Empiro for the benefit of its own people, how-i ever much tho results (might assist tho more practical foreigner to continue reaping where we have sown.- But preference, says Captain Jebb. is a policy which has yet to be endorsed by the peoples, whereas the principle of development by means of communications has virtually been endorsed long ago. It seems to mo a pity that an agreed policy should thus be linked to another which not only is not yet agreed, but might 6eem to require a difforent type of personnel upon tho board. To organise research is one thing; to organise transport or telegraph services is quite another. The motive idea of an Empire Development Board lias been to overcome, not lack of information, but certain quite different obstacles to execution. Shipping plans. The matters scheduled for the attention of the board do. however, include tho improvement of communication by steamship, cable and railway- And in the body of the report the Commissioners discuss the subject in a very stimulating spirit, outlining definite plans for creating new services and improving old one* which thev themselves consider to. be desirable and practical. As to mail services they offer tis a splendid programme for 1922, when several of the chief existing contracts will have expired, provided certain harbours can meanwhile be drepened so as to accommodate tho big ships which ore the most economical for fast running. And as,to cables, which they do not think are likely to be superseded jet,\tuey see nothing fantastic in the late Sir Sandford Fleming's idea that, by means of a Stateowned system, social messages might soon be sent, at Gd. a word between any countries within the Empire. They, too, havr reccnised that no satisfactory rate of process can be expected until there is a permanent body to. "promote tho schemes; and they intend the proposed board to meet this need. Again, so much to the good. But, even assuming that the- board is mainly composed of men accustomed to organising transport and telegraph services, we still miss the other feature, 'the regular fund, which Mr. Deakin deemed to bo no less essential. His'diagnosis was sound, ami until the fund is created the speed of fulfilment I is not likely to be much accelerated —The place assigned to the board -in the Empire's constitutional system does not call for much comment. They consider that the board should consist of twelve members, seven being allotted to the I United Kingdom with India, the Crown Colonies and Protectorates, and one each to the five self-governing Dominions. The expenses of administration, they suggest should be divided among the •constituent parts of the Empire, in proportion to either trade or .revenue the Br - tish Treasury supervising the penod of appointments should be ■limited, so , as to avoid the ri& of stagnatmn-a most sanitary proviso. The headquarters I should be in London, but the board i 'should journey from time to time about i tlie Empire. It should "work under the spreme P control of the Imperial Conference," its general function being to advise the different Governments on the matters assigned to it for inquiry. It is noteworthy that the Commissioners more than once refer to the-;; proposal a" the "initial stage" of the Development Board. While ■limiting }!s initial scope they refuse to res net its future possibilities. If at some future time the Governments of the Empire should wish to entrust it with "administrative duties " -such as the management ot the Pacific Cable or other joint wj««s;-tUe Commissioners "see no lnhcreirt difficult.? in giving effect to such a wish.

■ Helping Hand to Producers. Concluding his interesting review of the situation, Captain .Teh b says: Like the Imperial Conference itsell, tins Development Committee can only represent Governments in alliance.. Choose for it uien of business who have shown rniivination, the tvpe of those whose names lrive been associated with the great steamship lines, transcontinental railways and cable enterprises of the last thirty rears. Cut them loose from their commercial connections. Give them a regular fund to spend, as a guide to the scale of the schemes expected from thorn a guarantee against political iactionsness and vexatious delays, and as a means of establishing a subsidiary bureau for scientific and statistical work. (■;ive them also an ultimate goal at which to aim—the attainment of uniform rates, on the lowest possible scale, for transport and travel between (all countries of the Empire, irrespective of distance, and for telegraphic messages between any two points. A (arable hoard, worhiug progressively on tnoso lines touching the daily interests of everr producer and every settler within the' Empire, furnishing them- with the, «n-.aus of evet, closer intercourse, foster-

-ins the feeling that each of the Britannic peoples was helping the others to reach a higher scale of life, would do more to cement the unity of the Empire than any ingenious political plan for preserving liberty by subjecting each part of the Umpire-.to the control of the remainder. ; . . Jt will antagonise powerful interests, some of which do not vork ill tho open. We must again expect the Hidden Hand, and must exert ourselves more successfully than hitherto to defeat' it." e