Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star MONDAY, AUGUST 16th, 1920. EMPIRE EXHIBTION

Hokitika Guardian, 16 August 1920, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian & Evening Star MONDAY, AUGUST 16th, 1920. EMPIRE EXHIBTION

i A proposal is on foot to hold in London in 1.923 a. great imperial Exhibition . to demonstrate the I jesppreps and Manufacturing capacity of the British SP I " pire. An inttueutially attended ineehing was held at the Mansion House, lately, jn support of the project, and ! thp practical ipjpytet and encouragement tlmi'O togOtbar vvitli tlie fact that his Majesty &¥« fe ftps 1 ron of the'exhibition and dv prince of Wales, the Prime Ministry, t'K O Ppienjpl Secretary, and the President fif php Board of Trade are supporters, augurs well for the success 0 f the undertaking. The Prince of Wales, as president of the General Committee, e&nfos.mplates tb<- exhibition as no mere display of pageantry, but regards it in every way as an encouragement to, and concentration of effort on, the development Pf industry and Imperial resources. Jft & Jester read by the Lord Mayor at the meeting, his Royal Highness pointed out that there could be pp more fitting triumph to our cause in war than by 1 uniting again to develop for construe? . tive work, the vast potential resources - and manufacturing power of the Empire j and the fact that the British Govern- j ljient are participating in a guarantee . fund up to £IOO,OOO provided that not j less than £500,000 is -guaranteed f rom • other sources, should enable the prp- • motors to carry put the undertaking on j an adequate scale. The Prime Minister j also sent a letter supporting the exility- I tion, in which he said that ‘-“nothing , could so clearly demonstrate the mu- ' tual interests upon which the fabric of our Empire depended, and we ought to foster its success with all the energy at »;u.r command.” Viscount Milner, in giving verbal support at the meeting, said lie had no *douTjt that the ap- 1 peal they were making to flje citizens J of London and to the British .public J generally would meet with a very gene- j roils response. He thought it difficult : to over-estimate the value .of the objectlesson of such an exhibition, and it j would illustrate the fact that various parts of the Empire were in a commercial degree complimentary to one another apd vluifi their collective strength was enormously greater than the mere sum of their individual rpsfffifces. Mr W. A. Watt, speaking as a representative of Australia, pointed out that for many years the trade of Britain with the Dominions had Ibeen relatively shrinking compared jvith the trade of the Dominions with foreign countries. Both as a buyer and as a- seller she had been outbid in many important staple lines of food and clothing, and lie thought that the present generation would he unworthy trustees of the future if they did not seize the opportunity which the exhibition offered of ar-

resting and reversing this tendency. Sir George Perley, High Commissioner for Canada, also spoke of the necessity of keeping our business within the Empire as far as possible, and stated that the exhibition would receive most careful consideration 'from the Canadian Government, and, he had no doubt, its support. Sir Robert Horne said that the Board of Trade and other Government

Departments were determined to give the project every support in their power. Tt had been proved in the past that the display of things had been the readiest means of increasing trade and industry, and he felt sure that by so doing the exhibition would show that the Emnire was self-supporting if only we developed our resources. Mr jev Machin {President of the London Chamber of Commerce) also supported the exhibition pointing out that while they had been kept together by bonds

of sentiment during the war, bonds of commerce would keep them together in time of peace.