The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 1932. OTTAWA'S RESULTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 198, 22 August 1932, Page 6

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

MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 1932. OTTAWA'S RESULTS.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, Ar.d the good that we can do.

The decisions made at Ottawa have an extraordinarily important bearing upon the trade and future development of all parts of the Empire. It is evident that Britain has to a large extent won her point, that any further concessions to the Dominions must be balanced by larger buying of British goods. At the Conference the general purpose has been the lowering of duties within the Empire, and it is difficult to say yet how far this has been achieved, because much depends upon the comprehensive revision of the tariffs of Australia, New Zealand and Canada, which these countries undertake to put in hand without delay. A scaling down of duties, it is considered, would pave the way to free trade in the world, and would at the same time increase prosperity by facilitating the flow of commodities, and it is clear that the statesmen of the Empire have been tackling in a relatively narrow field questions which will be considered later in the year by the World Economic Conference.

Interest at the moment is focused on the terms of the agreements which have been reached, and here it appears that there is an underlying principle that the Dominions will maintain preference margins in favour of British goods much as at present, but where necessary will reduce duties to assist the Home manufacturer and enable him to compete more effectively with local industry. This principle is embodied in the agreements with New Zealand and Australia, which Governments, unlike those of South Africa and Canada, do not specify lines of goods on which they will lower duties. Everything depends upon the interpretation of the principle laid down of facilities for reasonable competition in Dominion markets. The agreements also contain a declaration in favour of raising the wholesale prices of frozen meat and of applying a quota to Britain's meat imports. The limitation on foreign meat was conceded only after Mr. Bruce and Mr. Coates had engaged in a strenuous struggle with the British representatives. It does not give all that was asked, as preferences are omitted, but it gives what the Dominions were most anxious to secure, an apparently assured position in the Home market. It is to be noted that Britain defines her policy in relation to meat production as, firstly, to assist the British farmer, and, secondly, to give the Dominions an expanding share of the imports. Allied with the sheep and mutton problem was that of bacon and ham. Here a final settlement has had to be deferred until the Pig Industry Commission in Britain concludes its inquiry.

Canada's position especially brings under notice the needs of the export trade of Britain. Britain's capacity to import depends on demand for exports, and in the bargaining with Canada this side of the problem has been prominent. Th solution reached is that Britain is to have concessions in the Canadian market for iron and steel goods and machinery, ■which are to compete on a "reasonable" basis with local manufacturers. In return, Canada is assured that Britain will deal promptly with foreign dumping if it threatens to cause the collapse of prices, especially in the market for wheat and lumber. Bussia is not named as the source of danger, but it is from this quarter that Canada thinks she is most open to serious attack. The nervousness of Britain in regard to Russian trade is noteworthy, and the Dominions have been told plainly by Mr. Chamberlain that the Soviet trade could not, and should not, be destroyed. New Zealand and Australia are more concerned about the competition of the Argentine and Denmark than about and they have little or nothing to complain about the terms they have been given in respect to meat and butter. These' new arrangements, which will be in force for five years, will take some time to show their full effects. No one can say yet exactly what their bearing will be upon Empire or foreign trade, or how far they will assist the development of the world as a single economic unit. One thing, however, is certain —that they must have a far-reaching influence on the advance of Britain and the Dominions and colonies along the lines of inter-Empire co-operation and development. N