A SINGLE ECONOMIC UNIT

Hokitika Guardian, 21 February 1929, Page 2

A SINGLE ECONOMIC UNIT

THE INDUSTRIAL FUTURE OF

THE EMPIRE.

(By A. E. Tomlinson)

The outstanding fact in world politics to-day is that the British Empire is slowly becoming aware of itself. The pioneer stage of growth, expansion, of the spade-work of early settlement, is being succeeded by the stage of consolidation. The Empire which was built in haphazard outline and almost without definite intent, is becoming ", aware of its own strength and potentialities. In Britain and 'throughout all the great communities enrolled in. the British Commonwealth of Nations this process of self-realisa-tion is daily gathering momentum. From that realisation must evolve, and indeed even now is evolving, a new era of organisation of planned effort,, of 'predetermined aim to build knowingly after those who budded better than they knew. Ties of race and sentiment ‘.are strong it is true—as was amplyvproved in the Great War—but to them must be added ties of organisatiiifi, economic bonds of trade and commerce. •

The great thing is to understand, to visualise' the Empire as a whole. No one hnfe.a greater capacity for seeing things in their true persepetive, above the clouds of purblind parochialism, than that great British statesmen and industrialist, Lord Melchett (Sir Alfred Mond). In two recent speeches 'he has strikingly defined wlmt our attitude as citizens of the greatest community history has ever known, ought to 'he. “It is clear as crystal,”, he says', “that unless wjpfisucceed, in a fairly short time in welding our Empire into an economicFwTioTe, we shall see a tendency to economic divergencies which may in time undermine the bonds which hold together our great Empire. Sentiment and goodwill may not indefinitely keep together far distant developing communities unless there is added to them an economic complex of some kind.” To anyone capable of taking the long far-siglited Ivimvj,' both ..historically backwards and prophetically forward, it is obvious that .the world today i 9 adjusting itself into a few huge economic units. This is the parallel on the international scale to what is happening to industry on the national scale, namely the growth; of larger and larger industrial units. We have the practically self-contained trade unit of the United States in the one continent; we have in Europe the undeniable tendency to economic agreement which, if followed to its logical conclusion, must result in the rise of the United Economic States of Europe. Both these units will aim at free trade within their own boundaries, strongly protected by tariff ramparts from outside competition. To be taken into account also is the rapid industrial development of Asia and the possibility of new trade forces and factors evolving from that continent of cheap and abundant labour. What, asks Lord Melchett, in tho face of these huge economic entities, is the position and the future of Britain and the British Empire? In the first place Britain and her statesmen have got to rid themselves of their obsessions with European politics. Their great and primary task is the organisation and consolidation of their own vast heritage. If that demands the grasping of a new idea or the upsetting of old ones, the sooner they realise it the better.

“England is not part of Europe. England is part of the British Empire,” declares Lord Melchett, and lie add, “I have often drawn attention to the danger of turning our eyes to Geneva instead of' to Ottawa and to Sydney. Instead of trying to placate a quarrelsome number of people in Europe with whom we have no real concern, we should bind together the great heritage of the Empire.” He cites the example of Canada and the great need there is to keep tho population of that mighty Domin|ion British. “I have recently returned from Canada,” he says, “and the one thing that concerned me in the enormously prosperous development of that great country was that there is already a growing alien population—Poles, Finns, Italians and people from other countries —who have not got the strong sentimental bond of those who have emigrated fromßritain. There can he nothing more important at the present time than to bend our energies towards getting more Britons into that country.”

This is merely one of the problems Sn tlie way of a fully organised Empire. A problem of wider application is that of apathy and lack of imagination. In Britain and in other parts of the Empire people are only too prone to take the narrow local view; they suffer from the short-sightedness of immediate self-interest. They magnify their own sections problems and interests and forget that they are citizens of a commonwealth which comprises a quarter of the habitable surface of the globe. In tliis Britain is as guilty as any other part of the Empire. “Why,” Lord Melchett asks Brlt-

nin, “should we not for instance cong. sider the wheat plains of Canada as part of our own wheat lands. It is merely because people think too parochially and not sufficiently Imperially. After all the sea to-day is not the dividing lino. The sea to-day is the cheapest means of transport in the world.”

Given a proper organisation of its interior riches and resources the Enlists in the world to-day or has over existed before. Those resources are too obvious to need the demonstration of figures and statistics. The Empire circles the globe; it is cut by the equator, it abuts towards the poles: all dimes, all conditions, a.ll races, creeds and a great share of the natural abundance of the earth come within its orbit. Our pioneering forefathers gave us these; it is lor us to organise their legacy with a courage equal to that which went to its building. This is how Lord Melchett would tackle the problem of organisation: —

“I believe myself that a conference of big business men in Britain and in the Dominions could work out a scheme of inter-imper-ial trade, paying due regard to the aspirations :of the Dominions to develop their own industries, hut at the same time enabling us all to do a great deal more business than we have ever done before. “If we only had the courage to put a tariff ring fence round the Empire there is not a single Free Trader who could oppose such a great extension of the .free interchange of goods as that would ultimately promote.”

This is not a new idea hut the altered circumstances of a post-war world have given it a totally new importance and urgency. Moreover, it comes from a man who possesses the power of seeing and explaining things in their right perspective. That he should take the long statesmanlike view is perhaps due to his enormous interests and reponsihilities, not only national and Imperial, but world-wide. Lord .Melchett.’s call for a conference of Empire business men found an immediate response from Mr Bruce, tho Prime Minister of Australia who said he was entirely in accord with the idea as the best approach to a solution of our common economic problems.

Properly organised the Empire will be easily the world’s greatest economic group. Nor is she behind in brains, vigour, push and technical ability to develop her resources. She has,' moreover, an undisputed reputation for justice, sporting spirit and administrative ability.

What she has lacked so far is a body of men to sit down and work cut a scheme for organising all these territories, all these forces and all these resources on constructive lines.. The task of organisation, of consolidation, is no less difficult, no less essential than was the pioneering task that laid the foundations.

The task grows easier every day because new, swifter and more effective methods of transport and communication are tending to eliminate the obstacles of space and distance. The importance of the motor car, the aeroplane and the wireless, telegraph' and telephone to the British -Empire' can scarcely he assessed. 'We have hardly begun to realise a thousandth part of their possibilities and uses. They are like new nerves, veins and arteries connecting up the body of the Etnpire.

Britain has much to offer the other Dominions—all her centuries of commercial experience, her financial traditions, her manufacturing knowledge, skill artd methods, and above all her scientific and technical ability, which is second to none in the world. She has everything, in fact, which a wise old mother country can offer, including even capital, because in spite of a general falling off in Britain’s investments abroad, the percentage invested in Empire countries has actually increased.

The other Dominions are able to offer Britain immense natural resources of raw materials, almost unlimited supplies off foodstuff and farm products and also the vigour, enterprise, hopeful uutHook and spirit of optimism and endeavour which young organisms naturally possess. Here then we have a basis of the exchange of mutual benefits on which can be built the greatest economic unit the world has yet seen. Are we to organise for that purpose, or are we through apathy to allow the separate Dominions to drift into other economic unions which appear to offer them greater immediate benefits? To this vital question Lord Melchett provides no uncertain answer:—

“There never was in the history of the world an economic complex so large in area, so great in population, so furnished with natural resources of all 1 kinds, endowed with all climates, with such a future for development and expansion and with such potentialities for future generations to enjoy. If they are allowed to proceed separately, individually, I have no doubt divergencies will gradually appear. If linked together in one economic whole they would form a most powerful unit, the most potentinstrument for good that the civilised world has ever seen.

*‘The idea of a British Empire with wo kind of hampering barriers between its members, with a trade secured against the rest of the world and with rationalised industries may seem a fantastic dream and in its entirety may never completely come about. You cannot deny these great countries the desire and wish to develop thomselves industrially as well as agriculturally, hut I do believe that it is not ibeyond the bounds of . human endeavour to arrive at arrangements between us in which all the resources of the Empire will be used for the best advantage of all, and when arrangements could be made to encourage the production of commodities of the most suitable character by which the increases and development of old and new industries could be co-ordi-nated,

“I wish many of the t resources which are lacking development to-day owing to want of finance and want of population could he sided and assisted by the mother country. The magnitude and complexities of the problem should not prevent us from going ahead. 1 have found much more sympathy, understanding as 1 do the leading men of the Dominions, than you would anticipate. t ‘I think there is a greater feeling of union between us than there over was. The echoes of the Great War have not yet entirely died out. There are still many millions who remember the great united effort, the great united sacrifice, the great united victory the British Empire achieved. The echoes, however, are 'becoming dimmer: time will blunt the memories of our great joint enterprise. We have already waited too long; we should not wait, any longer. A great conference should be called at the earliest opportunity. Leading men in industry, agriculture and economic life of these countries should investigate and probe this matter to the bottom. If the will is there, as 1 believe it is, the solution should he found.

“Let us prosecute unceasingly and unselfishly with no feeling for ourselves. but with an earnest wish and an ardent hope that the great heritage which has been handed down to us and for which so many now he on the fields of Flanders, the rocks of Gallipoli and the burning sands of Mesopotamia, may ho handed safely down to their children and their children’s children. Let us hope too, that the British Empire tho greatest instrument of peace the world has ever known, shall continue to grow in strength not only for the benefit of its own inhabitants but for the benefit of the whole human race.”