The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, APRIL 29, 1929. PREFERENCE AND PROTECTION.

Hokitika Guardian, 29 April 1929, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. MONDAY, APRIL 29, 1929. PREFERENCE AND PROTECTION.

Duimnc: tilt? recoilfc debate on the Dominions Office vote in the Mouse ol Commons, the Secretary ol State lor the Dominions found it necessary to defend the system of Preferential Trade from attacks recently made up on it by .Mr Snowden. In an arti.le bearing: the grotesque title “ f l lie I* llipire bleeding Britain” Mr Snowden has termed the Empire Marketing Hoard “an unnecessary waste,” and describes Imperial Preference as 'sheer humbug.’ Mr Amer.v, in his repljv, quoted facts and figures to show that the Dominions are not only good customers for British goods, Imt that they

purchase far more British products in proportion to their population than any other countries in the world. Tin case of Australia which Mr Amery eit ed is certainly a striking one. The Trade returns show that Australia purchases about 56 per cent of her tota imports from Britain—£69,ooo,oo' worth as against £56,500,000 from for eign countries. As Mr Amery said, m foreign country takes anything like s large a proportion of its imports fron Britain. But the case for the Dunlin ions as purchasers of British goods i been stronger. Without embarrassing our readers with a host of statistics, we may point out that a quarter of a century ago, when Mr Chamberlain was advocating 'tariff Beform, Britain oversea possessions were purchasin'' per head of population twenty times Iho value of British goods bought year l v by the individual foreigner. To-day .lie disproportion is even greater, bor it lias been shown repeatedly since the war that the lAuninions are in proportion to population much the best markets that Britain possesses, purchising per head of population from 25 to 3<' limes the value of British goods sole in any foreign country on same basis every year. Evidence of tiiis sort proving that the Dominions are act unllv as well as potentially Britain’ 1 host customers, might be multiplied indefinitely. But it would make no difference to Mr Snowden and his Cob rlenite friends, who cannot forgive the Dominions for levying import dutieon British goods. They demand, in effect, that British goods shall be ad admitted free of duty into all colonial markets, quite oblivious of the fact ibat the Dominions* for reasons that seem to them satisfactory and convincing, have repudiated Eree Trade and are like all the rest of the world but Britain, building up local industries behind the sheltering wall of protective tariffs. It is absurd to suggest that the Dominions should abandon a policy which they hold to be sound and profitable lor a fiscal system which they regard as suicidal, and which as they believe lias in dieted the most serious injuries upon British industry and commerce. Yet nothing loss than the repudiation of Protection by the Dominions would satisfy the Cobdenities; and because they resent the refusal of the Dominions to sacrilieo their industries in this way, they shut their eyes to the immense importance and value of Britain’s colonial markets and ignore completely the great commercial advantages that Britain enjoys through the Emipre’s spontaneous offer to Prelerentinl 'I rude.