The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 1916. THE NEW TRADE POLICY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 61, 11 March 1916, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

SATURDAY, MARCH 11, 1916. THE NEW TRADE POLICY.

Tor (Aβ eauae that lacks assistant*, I For the tcrong that needs resistance, I •■'-.' the future in the distance. \ And the good that u>r ,■,?» U

We do not suppose that our readc-rs will be inclined to accept too literal! rj everything that they and in the cable: column* about Mr. Hughes' visit to I London. For it is evident that journal! ietdc enterprise at Home has eeized upon' the advent of the Federal Premier as an! occasion for airin,j liscal and hniierialiit' theories of all l.inds, and a "Hughes boom" has been worked up with quite; sensational rapieity. Indeed the extra! ordinary amount of attention devotea' to "the chief citizen of the Common-' wealth" hao'nroved somewhat embarrassing to Mr. Hughes, who has had to Usno more than one formal disclaimer, assuring the general public that he is not! an ambassador from all the Dominions oversea, and that he docs not aspire to represent Canada, South Africa and Ncv Zealand as well as his own couutry in' Imporiail conferences and councils. However we can safely trust Mr. Hughes to put himself right with the Britifch people and the British Press; and wuat we aTe chieily concerned with just now ill the remarkable outburst of public enthusiasm over Imperial trade and fiscal policy recently evoked at Home by the circumstances of tho war. Mr. Hughes' visit is merely the occason, not tho cauoq 10! this extraordinary manifestation, but the facts themselves, a 6 recorded in recent cable messages, are of extreme interest and importance. For within tho past week, Mr. Asquith and Mr. Bonar Law, the spokesmen and representatives of the two great political parties at Home, have declared with quits surprising unanimity that the time hafl come not only for the readjustment of the Empire's internal relations on more definite linep, but for the esjiabliaUment of a new fiscal an- commercial system, which would go tit toward rendering the Empire eelf-supporting, and would in any case protect it against all fear of commercial aggression from our enemies in the future. Our readers vill, of course, observe that two entirely distinct questions are involved in the public discussion which Li now being conducted with so much fervour on Imperial topics at Home. Mr. Bonar Law, in the speech cabled to day, lays stress chiefly on the need for reorganising and reconstructing the Empire on lines that would give the Dominions a share in the control of Imperial affairs in some way commensurate with the efforts and sacrifices they are making in the Empire's cause. Mr. Asquitb, on the other hand, in bis public utterances has confined himself chiefly to the topic of Imperial trade, and in LU answer to the deputation which recently urged the appointment of a Minister of Commerce, he emphasised the importance of the conference which is to bs i held shortly at Paris to discuss the comj mercial relations of the Allies, and to i devise means for safeguarding their comj mon interests against the revival of Ger- . man commercial activity whew the war i is over. The " Times" has taken up what we may term the joint programme —Imperial Federation on the one hand, Imperial Reciprocity on the other; and I obviously the two problems are closely ! related to one another. But for tha j moment we prefer to deal only with the j fiscal and commercial aspects of th». j quettions that Mr. Aequith and Mr. I Bonar Law. htvt railed. For we mutt

admit that we cannot yet see much hope for any echeme of closer Imperial union on Federation lines. It seems to us that the organic solidarity of the Empire will be beet promoted by closer commercial relations between Britain and the Dominions; and more especially because this policy concerns our foreign friends and allies as well as ourselves. We hold that the great question of the moment is the problem of inter-Imperial trade along with its natural corollaries, the future commercial policy of Britain toward her friends and her enemies.

We have no desire at such a juncture as this to revive past controversies, but it is certainly worth noting that the attitude which is now being taken up by the rulers of the Empire toward the problems of Imperial Reciprocity and international trade provides the fullest possible justification for those who in the past have advocated Preferential Trade within the Empire. The Tariff Reformers have always maintained that Britain's commercial prosperity has been endangered by Germany's aggressive rivalry, and they have been met with the retort that Britain, like every other country, must profit through her neighbours' growth in wealth and industrial activity. But the great war has at last convinced the British nation that German economic activity was mere'v another form of German political aggression, and the terrible risks which the whole Empire has had to face during the past two years have brought home even to professed Free Traders like Mr. Asquith and Mr. Lloyd George the truth of the warnings and predictions that the Tariff Reformers so long reiterated in vain. The final proof of the immense national importance and value of the Preferential Trade programme is supplied by the public admission of the leading Free Trade statesmen of the day that, for the purpose of tletending our own commercial interests and rheck'ng the activity of dangerous rivals or enemies, it is necessary at ler-st to modify materially Britain's traditional fiscal policy. We are not prepared to suggest how far Mr. Asquith and his colleagues will find it necessary to go in this direction. It is sufficient for the moment to point out that tho decision of tbe British Government to co-operate with France and Russia and Belgium and Italy iv an economic war, defensive and offensive, against Germany really means that Britain has for practical purposes abjured the principles of Cobdcnism, and that the way is thus cleared for the commercial and ! fiscal reconstruction of the whole i Empire.