Empire's Admiration Of Britain

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 14858, 21 December 1948, Page 3

Empire's Admiration Of Britain

Chancellor Explains

Plan

Restricting Imports Of

Food

London, Dec. 20

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Stafford Cripps, has given a news conference more details of the plan. He said it was discussed at the conference of Commonwealth Prime Ministers and, although other members of the Commonwealth were in no way committed to it, they had expressed admiration for the way in which Britain was tackling the problem. f

Sir Stafford said that over such ; a long period of four years they must remain practicable. The programme indicated the general direction in which they must move, but their policy must be adjusted as circumstances developed. i; He stated that it was not true, as some reports had suggested, that Britain’s standard of living was expected to be 15 per cent higher in 1952 than now. >. •

Speaking of exports, Sir Stafford said Britain must try to increase them to the Western world until they were 120 per cent, in value above the level of last year. That was a tremendous task, which would tax all their ingenuity. ; {, As .regards imports, they would have to be mainly raw materials, which meant cutting down on im-, ports of food. But against that, Britain would increase homegrown food.

Sir Stafford also touched on colonial development. The first object was to increase the living standard of the colonial peoples, and it could also help Britain’s balance oi payments. But increased outpfit from the colonies required more investment in the colonies.