103

A.—6a.

wood manufactures ; sole, upper, and fine leathers ; leather and rubber footwear and other goods ; heavy and other chemicals, including acetate of lime, acetic acid and acetone, carbide of calcium; brooms and brushes ; condensed milk and milk-powder ; macaroni; cordage ; linseed-cake ; starch ; dextrine ; casings ; potato-flour, &c. Canada's Manufactured Goods not assembled from Imported Foreign Products. I would like to call the attention of the Conference to this phase which I am now going to present, but to which I made reference yesterday. That is the allegation that has been made time and again in the Press that Canada is merely a place for the assembling of products of other countries to be forwarded to Great Britain in order to secure the benefit of Great Britain's market. The statement is sometimes made here in the Press and in public discussion that Canadian manufactured goods are not rightly entitled to a preference in the British market, as they are not really manufactured in Canada, but are merely assembled from imported parts and sent over here as Canadian products. It may be pertinent to our discussion to-day to state that this conception is wholly erroneous. It could not survive a visit to Canada's manufacturing centres or a study of the statistical reports of the development of our industries. Chief Manufactures wholly Canadian. Our chief manufacturing industries are based primarily on the natural resources and extractive industries of Canada. For example, our two largest manufacturing interests, flour-milling and meatpacking, represent the two broad divisions of Canadian agriculture ; our third largest is lumber ; our fourth, pulp and paper; and our fifth, smelting. Of scores of our other largest industries —based in part, according to the universal practice, on imported raw materials —it needs but to mention them to note that they are wholly Canadian, as, for example, our textiles, rubber goods,, chemicals, agricultural implements, boots and shoes, &c. The 25-per-eent. Rule mutual. The British people have in general exactly the same measure of assurance that goods which come from Canada and claim preferential-tariff rates are distinctively Canadian as the Canadian people have that goods which come from Britain and claim our preferential rate are distinctively British. When Canada first granted a preference to British goods, complaints were raised that German and other goods were coming through Britain and securing the benefit of our preference. It was therefore provided that no goods imported into Canada should be entitled to the preference unless at least 25 per cent, of the value consisted of British labour and materials. When this country adopted a limited preferential system a few years ago it adopted the same rule. Specific Examples of wholly Canadian Manufactures. But it is not merely on these general considerations that I wish to rely in repudiating the reckless statements that have been made. I may take the specific items which bulk largest in our export of manufactures to Great Britain and to the Dominions and India. Paper, particularly newsprint, takes a high place in this list. It is a 100-per-cent. Canadian product, made in Canadian mills from Canadian wood. Wheat-flour and rolled oats are also widely exported, again made in Canadian mills from Canadian wheat and Canadian oats. Sugar now comes first amongst our exports to Great Britain which receive a preference. While wo grow larger quantities of sugar-beets in Canada, our raw material in this case comes preponderantly from outside, but the refineries are out-and-out Canadian ; and, further, the sugar which we use for our exports to Britain is drawn mainly from the British West Indies, to which Canada gives a very substantial preference. Under the British regulations the preferential rates apply only to sugar produced within the Empire ; and by a further application of this principle, which goes beyond anything in our regulations, preference is not accorded on jam or condensed milk unless the jam or condensed milk is made in Canada and the sugar used is refined in Canada from raw sugar grown within the Empire. The Canadian Motor-car Industry. Automobiles are another large factor. In some instances our motor-factories began as assembling plants, but this stage has long been passed. Our motor-factories are substantial and efficient organizations, carrying the process of manufacture from the ground up. It is almost exclusively from these factories that the half-million cars which Canadians themselves now use have been drawn —one car for every four families. Engines, radiators, axles, wheels, springs, sheet-metal work, hardware, upholstery, tyres, are all manufactured in Canada. One company draws upon 485 Canadian sources of supply. Of the two cars of Canadian make most largely imported into Britain, not 25 per cent., but in one case 60 per cent, and in the other 80 per cent, of the cost is represented by material and labour of Canadian origin ; and in the case of the car chiefly exported to other parts of the Empire the percentage runs still higher. It is not necessary to go into further detail. The items mentioned constitute the bulk of our export of factory products. The same story would bo told of the great majority of other manufactured exports. I apologize for taking so much time. I think I have gone far enough into the subject, both generally and in detail, to explain our position. I wish again to say how thoroughly we appreciate what the British Government has seen fit to do in its proposition. Australia's Appreciation of Great Britain's Proposals. Mr. Bruce : I certainly wish to associate myself with Mr. Graham in expressing Australia's appreciation of the proposals which the British Government have brought forward of their own volition.