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EMPIRE TRADE.

CHANGE OF OPINION IN * ENGLAND. MR W. MACHIN'S BELIEF. I "I believe that high protection is a dangerous thing to play with, yet I think some protection is necessary. We cannot afford to stand still, but if protection is to be applied it must be applied carefully. Between free trade and protection there may be a happy medium which Britons will take, and because protection is applied with judgment it will be more effective. Even to-day Britain's trade is the envy of the whole world. "To me protection and retaliation are economically unsound; we could not afford to apply them in our businesses or we would lose trade. Yet all of us have to adopt these policies to meet special circumstances. "What I think we in the British Empire will find is a 'via media/ which will be known as a scientific tariff and which will, as 'The l.likado' says: 'Make the punishment fit the crime.'" Such were the opinions expressed by Mr W. Machin last night when addressing the United Commercial Travellers' and Warehousemen's Association on the trade of the Empire. He drew attention to the tremendous swing of enlightened public opinion in England from free trade to some form of protection and Empire economic unity. His speech was received with applause. Actions of Governments. The trade of our Empire, said Mr Machin, was something we might well be proud of, because never before had the world seen anything so groat in I commerce. While commercial travellers I as a< body, were all intent on making trade easier and more fluid, the singular thing was that Governments and those who | guided our destinies were doing something which was the exact antithesis. „ Th6re was scarcely a Government in the. world which was not engaged in setting up tariff barriers. Generally, they made the protection sufficient to obtain the revenue they wanted, This they used to carry on the duties of the State which some' thought were carried to excess. Governments all over the world were omnivorous in this respect. M. Brland's Plan. "This is the day both of national and international mergers," added Mr Machin. One of the- iaost recent ex- i amples i& the plap of that great French statesman, M. Briand, for a confederation of Europe, including Great Britain, with, no tariff wall within the Federation, but protected by one from with: opt. '.iixj Machin felt sure that his plan was partly- actuated by hitf realisation that the British Empire would one day have economic unity. , A Rising School. '' All over the Empire to-day,'' .continued Mr Machin, "there is a school which is demanding empire economio unity. The leading apostle is LordMelchett. In an address which I was privileged to hear him give, made me feel that those people who are pessimistic about the future of the Empire cannot have the vision of our forbears, who must .have seen jirhat, the development would be. / , f "There are lesser people who advocate Empire economic unity. Day by day. the greatest newspaper group in England, of which Lord Beaverbrook is the head, deals with some aspect of Empire economic unity. They put commonplaces before the public, which make us realise that a large section of the people are gravitating—perhaps unconsciously —towards the belief. But in their arguments there are -serious economio flaws "Against this there are the millions of people who keep silent, but who yet hold thatk free imports are . the saviour of the country." , Safeguarding. Safeguarding and the McKenna duties, said Mr Machin, had undoubtedly put the motor industry in Britain on its feet. With tyres too, they had been responsible for turning an importing industry into a flourishing export industry. The McKenna duties had also been responsible for the rejuvenation of the lace trade, in a modified form. The wool industry was constantly asking for their protection, for Bradford was moi ibund. To the cotton industry proiectior would he of little use because it would only have the gffect of increasing the price of *aw material. Silent Opposition. Those millions of silent people in England who had fixed incomes . and nothing to gain from a rearrangement of tariffs feared Empire economic unity, but there had been a surprising turnover of opinion amongst the more enlightened spirits. A comparison of public opinion on,the subject to-day and eleven years ago, when he left England, produced evidence of a remarkable change. In banking circles —the most conservative in England—there had, in ■ ten years, been almost a complete change from free irade to protection. The Labour Party, as well as bankers and commercial men, were no longer prepared to let the foreigner shoot at us from behind his fortifications while we fought for our trade. Government Measures. In the face of this situation was it any wonder that the Government resolved to do something Whether they •would be successful in the.measures the Government had taken he could not say; it was difficult to say whether any Government had been successful with them. * ' Referring to Mr Machin's address, Mt H. D. Acland, who was one of those who replied to the toast of "The Visitors." said that his view was that against those countries which built up tariff barriers against us we should retaliate without hesitation.

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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19300920.2.120

Bibliographic details

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20038, 20 September 1930, Page 16

Word Count
876

EMPIRE TRADE. Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20038, 20 September 1930, Page 16

EMPIRE TRADE. Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20038, 20 September 1930, Page 16