IMPERIAL TRADE PROBLEMS.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18153, 16 August 1924, Page 10

IMPERIAL TRADE PROBLEMS.

CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE CONGRESS. THE WIRELESS CHAD** oca ows coebsspoheesw./ LONDON, July 5.

Mr J. H. Thomas (Secretary of State for the Colonies) welcomed, on behalf srf the Government, 200 delegates at- ' tending the Tenth Congress of Chanv "bers of Commerce of the British lim'pire, being held in the Conned Chamber of the Guildhall. The Lord Mayor arrived in state to open the conference, and then resigned his chair to Lord Derby, and retired. New Zealand delegates to the conference are Mr A. St. G. Rydcrr (Canterbury), Sir G. Fenwick and Mr Leslie Harris (Dunedin), Mr Thomas Clarkson (Hastings), Mr J. W. Smith (Invercargill), Mr A. S. Burgess Mr A. F. Roberts Mr W. F. Cuthbertson, and Mr F. \\\ Manton ("Wellington). Mr Thoracis said that from the business point of view the one lesson of the war was that wars never paid. There was no viotor in war. If there •was one thing all should resolve it was that they should make wars impossible. Towards that great ideal none could contribute more than the British Empire which represented of the globe. Wo were a people who had never believed in war, but we believed In honour and in keeping our word. (Cheers.) The war had proved that nations wore not different from individuals. They had spent more than they earned, bankruptcy was inevitable. Members of the congress had to apply themselves to the reconstruction or business as the result of their experience in the war. They could help to brin<» all sections together. Capital was essential to the development and prosperity of business, and so was labour. If instead of being at one another's throats, if instead of adopting a policy of pulling down they were to adopt a policy of building up, their difficulties, and the Empire's problems would be largely solved. If we could only get the snirit of 1914, which appeared vorv much like a religious revival, when men and women of all classes said not "What can I get?" but "What can I give?" the after-war difficulties would disappear. Lord Southwark, on behalf of the London Chamber of Commerce, moved a resolution that the Congress, being of opinion that cheap postal communication was of vital Importance to the Empire, welcomed the example of 'New Zealand, Bermuda and Jamaica m restoring penny post, and considered that penny postage throughout the "Empire should be re-established with the least possible delay. The Congress, recognising that the restoration "by Great Britain of its own penny post was a condition precedent to the adoption of the larger reform, respectfully asked the Home Government to give its earnest consideration to the question He said Post Office officials had estimated that the restoration of penny postage would cost the revenue between five and six millions a year, but he had never been able to obtain a satisfactory explanation how those figures were arrived at. The trouble was that in the last two years there had been five or six PostmastersGeneral. Each had come in with no knowledge of this subject but they had tafted to him, converted him, and then found that a new Postmaster-General "had been appointed. (Laughter.) Sir George Fenwick, who apologised for addressing the Conference so early in the proceedings, said ho was sure the people of New Zealand would feel grateful for the complimentary reference in the resolution. He hoped that England would not be long in following the Dominion's example in the matter of penny postage. Postal officials in England were no doubt like postal officials in New Zealand. They did not like to givo away revenue. They always managed to present figures which went to show it was impossible to do things. As one who had studied such matters, he knew that Post Office figures could not always be relied on. He believed that was the case in England aa in other parts of the Empire. In answer to the chairman, Sir George said that although he had no : figures available regarding penny postage in New Zealand, he believed the financial result had been extremely good. The increase of correspondence had been very, great, and in general terms he could say the re-establishment of the system had been a pronounced success. The resolution was afterwards carried unanimously.

Imperial Wireless Chain. Mr H. L. Symonds (London) proposed a resolution calling upon the imperial and Dominion Governments to take immediate steps to remove tho difficulties obstructing tho establishment of an Imperial wireless chain. They had just heard that tho Government wore not bound by the report of Sir Eobert Donald's Committee, which was appointed by the Postmaster-General. The resolution should bo taken as a stimulus to the Imperial Government to back up the recent Imperial Economic Conference in its call to the Governments of the Empire to get busy in this matter. His suggestion would be a reference to arbitration, as in the case of tho inland telegraph service fifty years ago, as to a cash payment by way of commutation of all claims. The question of personnel could only be dealt with by a scale of payment in Government service at least as liberal as that accorded by private enterprise. Mr Edgar Holberton (Bengal), in seconding, urged the necessity of highpower wireless communication between England and India. . The president pointed out that the obstacle in the way of obtaining what they desired, both in regard to wireless and an Imperial penny postage, was the want of money. They should not, therefore, be too ready to east blame on the present Government or any other Government if they were not able to get the changes which they all thought desirable. . He did not like to Bee a resolution being considered without a warning note as to what the financial effect would be.

Sir Hugh Denison (Sydney) said it seemed to bo not a question of finance but of disagreement between tho British Government and certain companies; and one company in particular in this country. Speaking as a representative of one of tho AustralianChambers, it was well known to him \ and his colleagues that tho Australian Government had been quite prepared for the last two years to erect a highpower station in Australia to communicate with any part of the world, and particularly with Great Britain, but the difficulty had been that the British Government, for some reason ot another, could not come to an agreement with an outstanding company here. The passing of the resolution would, perhaps, stimulate the British Government to some increased action if they knew that the Congress represented tbe whole of the Dominions. He had heard that the British Government were moving in the direction of tho resolution, but at the same time their action would not apply to the Dominions generally. If they conJol not get tho Government of this country to get down to terms with tho company here CContiiinjed. st £do% of next column^