EMPIRE FREE TRADE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21909, 9 October 1936, Page 15

EMPIRE FREE TRADE

ENGLISH BANKER’S ADVOCACY

NO RESTRICTIONS BY GOVERNMENT

NEIGHBOURS MUST BE SERVED

The utmost possible free trade, particularly within the British Commonwealth of Nations, with a minimum of restriction by the Governments is advocated by Mr R. L. Barclay, and Mr Barclay’s opinion must carry weight, coming from the head of one of England’s greatest banking institutions. Mr Barclay, who is at present in Christchurch, told a representative of “The Press” that only by enriching one’s neighbour could one prosper. “What I should like to emphasise in this wonderful country of yours, he said, “is that consideration _ must be given to the principle, which is a sound one, that credit follows wealth, but cannot create it, and that all credit must be based on already existing wealth. . “The richer our neighbour is the more likely he is to buy our goods," Mr Barclay said, “and in any case he cannot buy our goods without sending us something in return in the form of goods with which to pay for the goods we sent him. After all, all trade in the long run is barter, however, it may be expressed. Money is only an expression of value. “And lastly it follows from these facts that in politics, in commerce, and, in fact, in all human dealings, we do not live best by hitting our neighbour but by serving him. In other words, you do not want to retaliate on your neighbour, but to help him to make the channels of industry flow as free as possible. “Restrictions by the Government on exchange, trade, and industry generally, if they must be at all, should be so framed as not to deprive the Individual at home or abroad, or the community as a whole, of his chances of self-advancement and profit. “As a corollary of this,” concluded the banker, “there is the need for the utmost possible freedom of trade all round, but especially within the Empire.”