IMPERIAL PREFERENCE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 196, 14 May 1919, Page 7

IMPERIAL PREFERENCE

ME. MASSEY INTERVIEWED. (Rec. May 13, 5.5 p.m.) London, May 12. Official: Interviewed by the' London "Times" regarding the Budget proposals, Mr. Massey said: "They represent a very modest instalment of Imperial preference, but they are very important as an nffirmation and admission of the principle as well as of the fact that Imperial preference is now part of Britain's policy, as it has been of the Dominions for a number of years. There are other directions in which the principle may be applied— that of inter-Empire communications, for example, and financial transactions, one result of which is the heavy income tax on dominion and colonial loans. Public opinion is steadily growing in favour of such preference, and' Governments and Parliaments must respond. The new policy will become ah important factor in the Empire's prosperity and solidarity." ■ ' The- interviewer notes that Mr. Massey secured .the acceptance by the War Cabinet of 1917 of a resolution" favouring the development of Imperial resources and making the Empire independent respecting food supplied, raw materials, and essential industries. The resolution also affirmed the principle of Imperial prefer-ence.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn. DEBATE IN BRITISH PARLIAMENT. ' London, May 7 (delayed). In the House of Commons Mr. T. Shaw (Labour) moved for tho removal of Imperial preference on tea, of which 87 per cent, came from British colonies. Mr. Austen Chamberlain ■ said the amendment was directed against preferonco in general. The Governmont two years ago had accepted tho principle with respect to Imperial produce, and all the Dominions had urged its acceptance. The amendment was negatived by 2G2 votes to 63. Mr. Chamberlain resisted an amendment for the reduction of the tea tax from tenpence to threepence, and the amendment was negatived by 285 votes to G8 — ' Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.