TRADE WITHIN THE EMPIRE.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17644, 22 December 1922, Page 11

TRADE WITHIN THE EMPIRE.

NEED FOR DEVELOPMENT. DOMINIONS BRITAIN'S BEST CUSTOMEES. (By Cab'e—Prese Association —Copyright.) (Australian and. N.Z. Cable Association.) (Received December 21st, 8 p.m.) LONDON. December 19. Mr L. C. M. S. Amery,' First Lord of the Admiralty, addressing the BritishEmpire Union on trade within the l Empire. said if Britain's horizon were limited to her own island and Europe, one would have cause to doubt the future. We needed, however, to return to our forefathers' wisdom, and to recall that it was trade built up in consequence of the founding of the American Colonies that helped England to withstand Napoleon for twenty years. Similarly, now, the most hopeful outlook consisted in the development of the Dominions. Mr J. Clynes recently, in advocating tho remission of German reparations and recognition of the Russian Soviet Government n3 a remedy ft;r the present trade stagnation, had suggested that trade with the Dominions was not worth consideration, because they contained only 15,000,000 people, as compared with 300,000,000 in Europe. Tho important consideration was not the number of people, but the quantity of goods bought.

In 1913 the Dominions bought from .Britain goods to the extent of £5 per head, as compared with 3s per head bought by the.rest of Europe. Our net export; to Europe in 1913 totalled £3iJ,OOO,GOQ to the rest of the world £98,000,000, and to the British Empire £I<M,OOO,CGp. Imperial Preference. Ho 'oould not open up nil the subjects which would b© discussed at tho forthcoming Imperial Economic Conference, but ho wanted to emphasise the need for Imp?rial preference, using th:> phnise in its widest sense. We .had nns-ed the stage when ./the phrase formed the b.-isis of a keen political issue. A Ministry representing all parties agreed in 1917 to extend preference to a limited extent in Britain's present Custom* schedule. Preference within those narrow limits had already had amazing results in the supply of Empiregrown cocoa, coffee, dried fruits, jam and sugar. Mr Bonar Law had undertaken that Britain's fiscal policy would not be fundamentally changed without a further appeal' to the people, but there were many forms of preference still open to consideration by the Economic Conference; for instance, preference in commmunications, postal rates, cable charges and air services which would offer . valuable assistance to the development of trade with, tho Dominions, our best customers. Personally, he would' like to see some eort of preference in stamp or other duties, making it cheaper to invest in the Empire than in foreign securities.' In the passage of "the Empire Settlement Act they had not. faced the problem from the viewpoint of solving the immediate unemployment problem, but of the building up of the future strength of the Empire. He believed there \vai> nothing promising better for the wellbeing of British people here and overseas. than the operation and extension of that Act. Sir, Montague Barlow, 'Minister of Labour, in proposing a vote of thanks, described Mr Amery (as the chief apostle of Empire development. He said that many geoplfe had in' view of hia work in tliat connexion, that he would have been oaPed.to another high office in the Cabinet instead of the Admiralty.

MARKETS FOR BRITISH GOODS? i <» • POTENTIALITIES OP THE DOMINIONS. (Received December 21st, 8.45 p.m.) LONDON, December 20. "Royal Colonial Institute tendered a luncheon to Sir "William JoyneonHicks, Parliamentary Secretary for Over&ea Trade. Sir Godfrey Lagden (South Africa) in proposing the health of the guest, said the Department of Oversea Trade had been conspired against by economy committees and 'finally crushed altogether by the "Geddes axe." Prom that condition it had been rescued by vigorous protests from Chambers of Commerce in Britain and oversea. The cultivation of her overseas trade, had always been neglected by Britain, but they might nejoice to-day that her statesmen, recognised that Britain had a most precious asset in her Empire trade and that the Dominions wore ready to* give her preference. Sir .William Joynson-Hicks said the Department had no -gh £lace in the hierarchy of the Government, but it was the one department which might enable the countrv to recover from unemployment- and bad trade. The only possible means of removing unemployment was by fostering trade between Britain and the Dominions. Most of the foreign nations tither could not®or would not trade. If Britain could recover the £300,000,000 worth of export trade lost sinoe 1913-14 she could absorb over 90 per cent, of her unemployed. An examination of the figures relating to trade with tjie Dominions did not always reveal pleasing £acts. Dominion Trade Statistics. New Zealand was one.of the greatest jmjporters of British goods 30 ypax* igo, when she imported 6? per cent, of British goods. .This percentage steadily declined until in 1920 it was only 46. In the first half of 1922 it had risen to 62 p<Jr cent. On the contrary the United States 13 years ago provided 5J per cent, of New Zealand's imports, and to-day the percentage was 16i. The year 1920 was a. most fatal one to the Dominions, because France and Italy became enormous customers of Britain, who -was unable to supply the Dominions. Consequently th© United States took advantage of her position. Australia 30 years aga imported 68 per cent, of British goods, in 1920 only 46 per cent., while this year the percentage had re(Continued at foot of next column.)

coveted to 60. On the contrary the American proportion, had risen from<six to 22 per cent, in 1920, and to-day was 18 per cent. Canada, -notably, was not taking the same proportion of British goods as other of the Dominions, owing, doubtless, to more intensive competition by the United States. The Dominion was anxious and willing to trade with Britain, who was allowing herself to be ousted. Canada was taking only 13 dollars' worth of British imports per head as compared with 59 dollars' worth of American goods. Canada and' Australia were great industrial countries. Twenty years ago only 198,000 person# were employed in in. dustries in Australia; to-day there wcr® 400,000 so employed. The Emigration Problem.= Britain must realise that it was no use asking the Dominions to do what was opposed tjo their ojwn intenests. The greatest possibility of developing Empire trade lay in the Dominions' lack of population. Britain must be relieved of her surplus population, but 3he must offer the Dominions men, not refuse. It waa no use asking Dominions to accept scum. The Dominions would take the best men with enough monoj to • establish themselves. It would be better for Britain, • if, instead of paying £100,000,000 in unemployment doles, she. devoted £50,000,000 in- placing men in a position to become desirable citizens of the Dominions. Everyone so placed would bo a potential consumer of British ex* ports.. Britain would thus create ner own markets. The Dominions had shown their desire for closer trade relations with britain, He was convinced that if only thp beat men were sent tnere, they would realise that their true prosperity lay along the lines on which the United States had built up her great wealth. He hoped the coming economic conference would produce good results. The Dominions would enter it with the knowledge that they could negotiate on equal terms.