TREATY CRITICISED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 275, 20 November 1935, Page 7

TREATY CRITICISED.

NEW CANADA-U.S.A. PACT. OTTAWA, November 19. Canadian producers, like the American producers across the border, were preoccupied yesterday in studying the trade treaty with the United States in order to determine just how much, individually and collectively, they will gain or lose through the new schedule of rates.

General Canadian reaction appears to be favourable to the treaty. Although the Conservative newspapers indicate that the minority party may attempt to block its ratification by Parliament, such action is considered to be only a forlorn hope. However, with the preponderant Liberal majority in the maritime provinces and Western Canada, with their large agricultural, fishing and lumber interests, they are expected strongly to support the treaty. If formidable opposition develops probably it will come from the manufacturing centres in Quebec and Ontario. Producers of finished goods are not universally against the treaty, however. For example, Mr. Ross McMaster, president of the Steel Company of Canada, said yesterday: "The objectives of the treaty find general acceptance. The interests of our primary producers are all-important." The Conservative newspaper the Toronto "Mail and Empire" says the treaty endangers some of the major Canadian industries. On the other hand the "Montreal Gazette," generally considered to be the organ of important financial and business circles, in general approves of the treaty. It says that undoubtedly it will be materially helpful to this country.