TRADE WITHIN EMPIRE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 12, 15 January 1926, Page 7

TRADE WITHIN EMPIRE.

LETTER TO MR. BALDWIN. NECESSITY OP AN INCREASE. THE PRESSING PROBLEMS. (By Cable.-Press Association.—Copyright.) (Eeeeivea 10.30 a.m.) LONDON, January 14. The Federation of British Industries has sent a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr. vStanley Baldwin, pointing out the urgent need of increasing Britain's export trade within the Empire above the present proportion of 41 per cent of the total. The federation is of the opinion that any expansion must proceed, pari passu, with the increase of the Dominions' purchasing power -with which the marketing of Dominion produce is indissolubly connected, because of the larger sale of Dominion goods and greater Dominions' purchasing power in Britain. The letter inquires when the Ministry will announce its decision on the Imperial Economic Committee's two reports in August, in which two of the Empire's most pressing ■problems were dealt with.—(A. and N.Z.~ Cable.) The first report of the Imperial Economic Committee on the marketing of Empire foodstuffs issued in August declared the time is ripe for a national effort to stimulate the consumption of Empire produce in the United Kingdom. So far as the State is concerned, says the report, the scheme should rest on: (1) The legal requirements with a view to the identification of Empire goods; (2) financial assistance for education and publicity, which the committee regard as mutually essential. The Merchandise Marks Bill would form a convenient basis for further legislation. The report suggested that the enforcement of the law in respect to marketing at the time of importation and to labelling at the time of retail sale should rest with one of the existing departments of State. It said an executive commission should be formed, on the model of the Development and Forestry Commissions, for the purpose of supervising the expenditure of the annual grant from the British Parliament. This commission should be charged with the duty of conducting a movement for trade in the Empire. The report said the Produce Commission should start by allocating about 65 per cent of the annual grant for the promotion of trade in Empire produce and about 15 per cent for research. The remaining 20 per cent should be reserved for certain other schemes, including the promotion of fruitgrowing in the tropical portions of the Empire and the carriage of pedigree stock from the United Kingdom to overseas parts of the Empire. In a letter to Sir H. J. Mackinder, chairman of the Economic Committee, the Prime Minister, Mr. Stanley Baldwin, promised the Government's full and prompt consideration of the report. The "Times," commenting on the report, said it afforded gratifying and tangible evidence of definite progress toward the great ideal of co-operation among all parts of the Empire in evolving a trade policy for the benefit of the whole. It will, said the "Times," be incumbent on the Dominions and colonies to see that the Empire origin label becomes a guarantee of quality. The "Daily Mail" remarked that there is no inherent reason why Britain should import such enormous supplies of food from foreign lands. The larger the trade within the Empire the more prosperous and safer will the Empire be. The "Westminster Gazette" said it is absurd for the committee to suggest by the manipulation of statistics that the Empire offers a better market for British manufacturers than the rest of the world. The Dominions at present only offer Britain a market of 27,000,000 souls. All the Dominions are taxing British manufacturers by their high tariffs and there is no indication that they ever intend to do otherwise. . The "Daily News" said the British housewife, in spite of mountains of patriotic labels and injunctions to think Imperially, will think first of the family budget. If the Empire producers can beat competitors by improved marketing and by more enterprising and more intelligent cultivation, so much the better, but a self-contained Empire can no more be created by the mass production of propaganda than by the more questionable methods of subsidies and tariffs.