The Dominion. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1942. EMPIRE ECONOMIC CONFERENCE’

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 285, 1 September 1942, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1942. EMPIRE ECONOMIC CONFERENCE’

Well-informed circles in London are reported to be expecting that an Empire financial and economic conference will be summoned in the near future. The goal, mentioned in a brief cable message from London published" yesterday, is the establishment of a system of Empire free trade and currency. Banking opinion is said to be doubtful of this possibility but “would not be surprised if the closer co-operation of Allied military strategy were soon paralleled throughout the Empire by trade and financial consultations. There is a wide gulf between the views expressed. The one evidently is intended to meet post-war problems; the other, linked with considerations of military strategy, seems more in line with the consolidation of economic resources for the support of the joint war effort. There have been indications' of late that economic issues were being reviewed in the light of future possibilities. Recently three leading British organizations, the Association of Chambers of Commerce, the London Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of British Industries, issued reports on various phases of post-war reconstruction. A little-earlier Lord Keynes, speaking at Manchester, had expressed the view that It will take us three years to recover from the effects of the war. During that period we must willingly submit to disciplineprogressively less severe than In wartime, but more difficult t hear in peacetime. The first difficulty may be to secure a reasonable measure of agreement regarding the application of this process of gradual release, for there are in some countries, including the Dominion, people who hope to see some system of national or international control made the basis of a new order. On the other hand there are many more who readilv endorse the statement made by the Argentine Central Bank, and “lookforward with no little apprehension to the prospect of a world in which foreign trade would be bilaterally balanced and exchange control used’for restrictive and selective purposes.” There will certalnly be no lack"of advocates of active multilateral trade. A conference in London possibly might, serve a useful purpose bv bringing home to the respective Governments and peoples the extent of the problems that will have to be faced and the. necessity for careful consideration of how they will adjust their individual programmes in order to fit them into the frame of the wider issues. The one thing certain is that neither this country nor any other dependent on outside markets for its economic stability will be able to contract out. Our task will be one of adjustment, made easier by the fact that we produce foodstuffs and raw materials that the world needs. v