LOOKING FORWARD.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1514, 24 February 1916, Page 4

LOOKING FORWARD.

ALLIES’ TRADE AFTER WAR. PENALISING GERMANY. “We were terribly unprepared for the outbreak of the war ; for goodness sake let us be prepared for peace,” This remark was made by a member of the council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce after Mr Kendrick B. Murray, late secretary of the London Chamber of Commerce, had addressed the meeting on the necessity for fostering the allies’ trade when hostilities are at an end. Mr Murray explained that he had no representative status, and came simply as a private person to urge that steps be taken to ensure the welfare of the commercial interests of the British Empire. When peace was declared, it was mainly generals and politicians who made negotiations, and the commercial side was left out of it to a large extent. As a man who had for 30 years been connected with nearly every commercial treaty, he had taken the

advocacy of this matter upon himself, for it would take at least 18 months to get into shape, and be prepared when the crucial moment came. There were two points he wished to emphasise. One was the necessity for preferential trade among the allies, and the other was that a thoroughly well-worded, matured, and considered penal clause should be framed against German trade amongst the allies. Preference would provide an enormous market immediately, and merely by sitting round the table it would be possible to build up a great trade for the British Empire and the rest of the allies. Think of the German trade of the past. If a portion of that vast trade were secured, he ventured to predict that after, say, 20 years the benefits ot the war might even outweigh other considerations. On September 3rd, a little while after the war commenced, Sir Edward Grey had announced that the allies had agreed to make peace jointly, and the thought had struck him (the speaker) that if the same attitude were adopted with regard to the commercial side Germany would be absolutely helpless. As the, result of representations made, the Foreign Office and the Board of Trade were now making joint inquiries, The penal clause would simply be a matter of agreement between the allies themselves and would require no communication with the enemy. If the allies merely agreed among themselves upon a certain tariff, then that tariff would come into force automatically, His idea was that after the chambers of commerce in New Zealand had considered his proposals they should be brought under the notice of the Australian, South African and Canadian Chambers. Members expressed views in sympathy with Mr Murray’s suggestion, and it was decided to refer the matter to the Associated Chambers.