The Auckland Star. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1930. WHAT FREE TRADE MEANS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 236, 6 October 1930, Page 6

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

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1930. WHAT FREE TRADE MEANS.

For the cause that lacks assistance, | For the wrong that needs I resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

The High Commissioner for New Zealand has clone good service in the cause of Taiiff Reform by bringing under the notice of Mr. Forbes a striking illustration of the of the system of Free Imports at Home. Clothing made., abroad, and sold in Britain in large quantities "at prices 100 per cent below the lowest prices the British makers are able to reach," clearly represents a most dangerous form of competition; and Sir T. M. Wilford very naturally draws the conclusion not only that the British workers need protection against their harder worked and lower paid foreign rivals, but that the suggested import duty of 10 to 15 per cent ad valorem on such goods would be altogether inadequate to Britain's industrial needs. But the only proposal put forward combining the full development of the resources of the Empire with the defence of British trade against foreign competition is a scheme for Imperial Reciprocity, which cannot be carried into effect unless and until Britain decides to deviate from her Free Trade principles and traditions. In this connection special significance attaches to the resolutions carried three months ago by a meeting of leading London bankers. In the opinion of this meeting, "the immediate step for securing and extending the market for British goods lies in reciprocal trade agreements between the nations constituting the British Empire." But in order to secure such agreements, and thus reserve the colonial markets as far as possible for British products, Britain must be "prepared to impose duties on all imports from all other countries." Naturally this resolution created a great sensation when it was first circulated in the London Press. Mr. Snowden mistakenly tried to minimise its effects by insisting that those responsible for it were not really representative of financial and commercial opinion at Home. But within a few dayfe it was known that the resolution had been supported or endorsed by the chairmen of the five great joint stock banks, Barclay's, Lloyds, the National Provincial, the Midland and the Westminster, by two Bank of England directors, and by a large number of other influential financiers. According to Mr. L. S. Amery, "the impression created was profound," and he accepts this resolution as a striking proof that the reaction against Free Trade at Home is much deeper and stronger than most people have yet imagined. If we are to take this remarkable incident as a fair indication of the state of public feeling on this question just now, the Dominion delegates at the Imperial Conference may find, after all, that the difficulties obstructing the adoption of some f9rm of Imperial Reciprocity are not absolutely insuperable.