COMMERCE CONGRESS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 142, 18 June 1934, Page 9

COMMERCE CONGRESS.

IN NEW ZEALAND IN 1936. EMPIRE DELEGATIONS. Comment on the decision of the Empire Federation of Chambers of Commerce to hold the next congress in 10' Mi in New Zealand was made yesterday by the secretary of the New Zealand Associated Chambers, Mr. A. O. lleany. He said it had already been arranged that the congress should be held in Wellington, and possibly about 150 delegates from all parts of the Empire would be present. The congresses were held every three years, either in London or some other centre in the Empire, he said. They had been held in all of the Dominions except New Zealand. At the 1930 congress in London the New Zealand delegates had issued an invitation for the 1933 congress to be held here, but in 1932, owing to the fact that the World Economic Conference was to be held in London in the following year, the federation asked the New Zealand Associated Chambers if they would agree to the next congress being held in London, with the New Zealand engagement postponed, in order that quick action following the Economic Conference decisions might be taken. The last congress in London had been attended by over 200 delegates from all parts of the Empire, including six representatives from New Zealand, Mr. Heany continued. It was not expected that as many delegates would be in New Zealand for "the 1930 congress,' but there would probably be a large unofficial delegation in addition to the appointed representatives. The idea of the congress was to bring together representatives of the trading and industrial communities within the Empire. It presented the only opportunity which anything like such a full representation of commercial men might have of meeting. Several of the congresses had been held under the King's patronage, and they had had associated with them such noted figures as the late Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, the first supporter of Imperial preference, the late Lords Strathcona and Athlone, and the Earl of Derby. Sir Arthur Shirley Benn was the present president. In 1932 the British federation had selected October in 1933 for the date of the proposed congress in New Zealand, but the exact date for the 1930 congress was not yet known here.