QUOTA CAMPAIGN.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20921, 31 July 1933, Page 9

QUOTA CAMPAIGN.

i i CHANGE OF BRITISH j ATTITUDE. i STRENGTH OF DOMINIONS' ARGUMENTS. (SrECIAL TO TTnuted PP.JS3 ASSOCIATION, 3s"bv/ Z-ealakd.) LONDON, July 28. The Dominions are still being called into daily consultation with the British Ministers on various Empire subjects. The Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes and the Hon. R. Masters spent the morning with the British Cabinet. Great Britain has not yet relinquished her endeavour to secure an agreement with the Dominions for the limitation of supplies of dairy produce, though in view of the fight New Zealand and Australia have put up, and the arguments and data advanced regarding the effects of the regulation of production would have on these young countries, there is a less bitter viewpoint in the press against them. The Northciiffe and Beaverbrook newspapers now support the Dominions in their anxiety not to have their output and development disadvantageously affected, and in this j respect there is little doubt that Mr Forbes's statement in his first speech j in London, since reiterated by* himself and Mr Masters, that any curtailment of revenue from exports might have a repercussion seriously threatening the solvency of the Dominion, has had its influence in securing a better hearing for the Dominions. No Empire Defaults. To-day the "Evening Standard" States that British dealers in foreign bonds admit that the governments that should be supported by. London loans are confined to the British Dominions, none of which has defaulted, while outside them has been widespread default, especially by South America. The fight by Mr Forbes and Mr Masters on the quota issue has not yet concluded, but the outlook is j more favourable. The chief press j hostility is from the Midlands, the i Scottish, and south-western parts of ' Great Britain, where the agricultur- j ists are most strongly grouped. The j failure of the conference to arrive j at any international unanimous con- j elusion regarding the raising of j price levels for produce appears to j have directed attention once again | to the possibilities of concerted j action within the Empire. It is now rumoured that tne j United Kingdom is weakening on i the quota for butter, and Mr W. i E. Elliot (Minister for Agriculture) | has asked for a\ private conference tormorrow with the New Zealand | delegates to discuss a quota on j cheese only. * I At a meeting of farmers at I Taunton there was a general de- j mand for the revision of the .Ottawa j agreement, the farmers alleging that they could not live against the j Dominions' competition in cheese, j Mr Elliot has reaffirmed that con-1 cessions \in tariffs on British goods j into New, Zealand would not meet : his requirements in regard to his j request for a quota, his concern being the protection of British far- j mers against excessive imports. i EMPIRE DECLARATION.! i ESTABLISHING COMMON PURPOSE. (Received July 30, 9.5 p.m.) LONDON, July 29. I The declaration which was issued by the British Empire delegates to the World Economic Conference on July 27, stressing the need for cooperation in monetary matters, announced that the delegations had agreed to recommend to their Governments that they should consult one another from time to time on monetary and economic policy, with a view to establishing a common purpose, and reaffirming such measures as might conduce towards the achievement of that purpose. The declaration was signed by Mr Neville Chamberlain < G - reat Britain), Mr R. B. Bennett (Canada), Mr S. M. Bruce (Australia), Mr G. W. Forbes (New Zealand), General Jan Smuts (South Africa), and Sir Henry Strakosch (India). Great Britain's signature to the Empire declaration is regarded as a triumph for the Dominions, as the result of protracted negotiations. The conference issues are at present as dead as though they had never arisen. Even the acrimonious wheat and dairy produce controversies have been talked out. Most of the British delegates are on holiday, and now that the House of Commons has adjourned it is unlikely that further steps will be taken until early in September. . „ . i . , , . The Dominion and British delegates met at No. 10 Downing Street to review the work of the conference. The meeting lasted an hour and a-half, and was in the nature of a farewell gathering rather than a business discussion.