A.—6a

120

Honey. It is proposed that a duty of 10s. per hundredweight shall be imposed on foreign honey, and that honey of Empire origin shall continue to be admitted free of duty. Lime, Lemon, and other Fruit Juices. The proposal of His Majesty's Government is that a duty at the rate of 6d. per gallon shall be imposed on foreign lime and lemon juices, and His Majesty's Government would, consider a list of other fruit-juices which the Dominions regarded as of interest to their trade. The same duty would fall on fruit-syrups and woulel bo exclusive of the duty on the sugar content of such syrups. Fruitjuices from tho Empire, will continue to be admitted free of eluty.

FOOD AND MATERIALS COMMITTEE. The Committee was constituted as follows :—■ The Eight Hon. Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame, K.8.E., M.C., M'.P., President of the Board of Trade ; The Right Hon. Sir Robert A. Sanders, Bart., M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries; Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. Walter Guinness, D.5.0., T.D., M.P., Financial Secretary to the Treasury; Dr. J. H. Grisdale, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Canada; The Hon. Duncan Marshall, Commissioner of Agriculture, Canada ; Senator the Hon. R. V. Wilson, Honorary Minister in charge of Departments of Health and Migration, Commonwealth of Australia ; The Hon. Sir James Allen, K.C.8., High Commissioner for New Zealand; Sir Ernest Chappell, C.8.E., Union of South Africa ; Mr. E. J. Riordan, Secretary to Trade and Shipping Department, Ministry of Industry and Commerce, Irish Free State ; Professor T. A. Smiddy, Irish Free State ; The Hon. Sir Marmaduke Winter, C.8.E., Minister without Portfolio, Newfoundland (assisted by the Hon. Sir Patrick T. McGrath, K.8.E., M.L.C., and Captain V. Gordon, Acting High Commissioner, Newfoundland) ; Mr. C. A. Innes, C.5.1., C.1.E., Member of Governor-General's Council for Commerce and Railways, India ; Mr. L. R. Lumley, M.P., Colonies and Protectorates. Mr. R. J. Shackle, Board of Trade, and Major R. McK. Oakley, C.8.E., Comptroller-General of Customs, Commonwealth of Australia, acted as joint secretaries to the Committee. REPORT. The terms of reference to the Committee were, — " To consider and report to the Imperial Economic Conference on the practicability of certain methods, suggested for examination by the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia, for assisting the marketing of foodstuffs and agricultural raw materials originating in the British Empire, namely : — " (a.) The method of subsidies. " (b.) The method of import licenses. " (c.) The method of stabilization of prices." The Committee has approached this question with a full realization of the importance of developing and encouraging the production of food-supplies within the Empire, and with the desire to support any practical proposals which can be devised with that object. The Committee have, therefore, given the most careful consideration to the three schemes enumerated in their terms of reference in the light of experience of control in Great Britain, the Dominions, and India, and having regard both to the present economic position and to the general questions of Imperial trade and development which the Conference is seeking to solve. I. —Method of Subsidies. The Committee consider that any scheme of direct subsidy by the Home Government to producers in the Dominions is impracticable. If a subsidy is to be given by a Government to a class of producers, it is inevitable that the subsidizing Government should retain the right to exercise a large., measure of supervision and direction over the recipients of the subsidy. This is, in fact, a condition upon which any Parliament would require to be satisfied before assenting to a subsidy. But it would obviously be not only highly inconvenient but practically impossible for one Government to attempt to exercise this power within the jurisdiction of another Government.