ECONOMIC UNITY

Hokitika Guardian, 25 September 1930, Page 2

ECONOMIC UNITY

EMPIRE FEDERATION. RISING TARIFF WALLS. CHANGING VIEW OF RRITIAN. Empire trade and economic unity were topics discussed by Mr M. Maudlin in proposing the toast of “llie Day We e-eieorate,” at the annual anniversary or the United Commercial Travellers’ and Warehousemen’s Association of New Zealand, last week at Christchurch.

We had no need to be modest about the trade of the British Empire, which enjoyed one-third of the trade of die world, said Mr Mancliin. Almost every Government made it harder to do business mainly by raising traiff walls between community and community and people and people. The plea was not that they wished to promote free interchange of commodities, but that the best service would be given by restriction in circulation of those commodities, Generally speaking, a Government got considerable revenue out of protective duties. Most Governments seemed omnivorous in these respects, Seldom did they take off their ■ tariff, and that was putting a clog on the free interchange of commodities over their boundaries. ■ The question now was becoming one mu only of commercial mergers, but of national mergers. He remarked tint one of the most interesting proposals that of the United States of Europe had been brought forward by M. Briand the eminent French statesman. This had brought definitelyl nearer the proposal, which was gathering strength in the Empire, that there should be economic unity within the Empire. FEDERATED EMPIRE. It had • already been remarked that it would be easier for Great Britain, though the countries ‘of her Empire might be separated by thousands of miles of sea, to federate her countries, than for a European federation to be established »among nations that differed in so many respects, as, for instance language, religion and ideals. Quoting facts to support his contention, Mr Machin said that it was obviously impossible not to believe, in spite of all pessimistic utterances in regard to Great Britain’s trade, that there was no .other nation in the world today with such great possibilities and potentialities as , Great Britain bad. Safeguarding had gfeatly benefited tlie motor industry in England, for one. The tire industry was another that had been built up to a flourishing state, and the laco curtain industry was another one which he mentioned. WOOL INDUSTRY. Machin said that for some years past wool had been claiming that it should have the advantage of safeguarding duties under the McKenna Act. Bradford, he added, seemed for the time being to be moribund to a great extent.

In England now, an enormous number of people was advocating Empire trade, though there were the people of fixed incomes who would always silently oppose these proposals. It was obvious, none the less, that there had been an enormous turnover in opinion among those who had been in the habit cf discussing this matter. Among the banking community there had been a changeover within 10 years from free trade to almost unqualified protection. At the Empire. Chambers of Commerce conference, Empire reciprocity proposals had been accepted almost unanimously. There was no longer a willingness that Great Britain should be a dumping-ground for foreign countries, even though Great Britain might risk the high standard of living she had got through the low price of commodities. QUESTION OF PROTECTION “I believe that high protection is a dangerous thing to play with, but i believe that in some degree it will have to come in the British Empire—though it will have to be the more effective for that where it is supplied. “Protection and retaliation are, I believe, economically unsound, hut all of us have to adopt these policies to meet emergencies. We shall find the salvation of the British Empire, economically, in the via media, between the two, something that will give us relief from some of the. economic pains which we suffer.”

Later in the evening, in the course of a reply to the toast “Our Visitors,” Mr H. D. Acland, referring to Mr Machin’s remarks on the topic of tariff walls, said that the time had arrived when we had got to kick back to other countries, and kick hard, too. It must be realised that this was the only way to bring these other people to reason. Mr J. J. Dougall, responding to the same toast, observed that lie bad found it noticeable when he was Home recently that New Zealand was the “white-haired bey” of the Empire, and a New Zealander was welcomed anywhere in England and Scotland too.