TRADE PREFERENCE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3127, 4 July 1917, Page 7

TRADE PREFERENCE

THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE MR. MASSEY'S IDEAS A BURNING QUESTION DIFFERENT WAYS OF ENSURING PREFERENCE The peat change' of opinion in Great Britain on/the question of tne fiscal policy of the Empire furnished the Prime .Minister (the Rt. Hon. W. F. Masse?) with a text for one of the most important and most interesting sections of his statement in the House of' Representatives yesterday aiternoon. Mr. Massev's contention was that the old Imperial policy of .free trade had been shown to have failed under the exigencies of war conditions. A resolution had been adopted by the Imperial Conference.in favour of preference,, as follows:— The time has.arrived when all pos- . Bible encouragement should be'given . to the development of Imperial re- ' sources and.especially to making the ■ -Empire- independent of other countries ,in respe.ot. of food. supplies, raw materials, and ■ essential .industries. • With these objects in view this, Co- , ferenco,expresses itself in favour of— (1) The principle that each part of the Empire, having due regard to the . interests of our. Allies, shall givo specially favourable treatment and facilities to the produco and ma-nu-' " factures of other parts of tho Empire. (2) Arrangements by which intending emigrants from the United Kingdom may be induced to .settle in i

■ countries under the British P!ag. \ When he himself brought the resolution before the Conference several members suggested that as it. involved a question, of Imperial policy it would be better dealt with .by the WaV Cabinet, nnd this was done,, with tho. concurrence of Mr. Lloyd George. The War Cabinet appointed a special sub-commitice, under the presidency of Lord Milner, to deal with the proposal... Mr. IMassey himself was a member of this sub-committee, all the members of which did not entirely agree with his views, but eventually, they adjusted their differences, and came before Cabinet with a unanimous decision that the resolution should go on.. _ Then it- went before the Conference again, and it was adopted there-practically without discussion.. The . resolution . had since become the policy of. tho Imperial Government, and in due course would be given effect .to. by. legislation.

Free Trade Abandoned. Ha would lit© to explain what tins resolution really meant. There had been a very considerable change of public opinion in England' regarding the fiscal system. Prior to , the war there had been very solid support for p, policy of extreme free trade, but since the war many people had changed their opinions because they 6aw that' free trade had left Britain in an exceedingly dangerfras position at the .'outbreak of hostilities. Before the war Britain had had to import large quantities of food and Taw materials for her manufactures from foreign, countries, and people had lately been thinking that this kind of; thing was no good, and must not occur again. The people had ceased to take their politics from the party leaders and party newspapers. 1 Distinguished Converts,

No better example of what he meant could be afforded than that of tho resolution in favour of Imperial preference adopted by Lord Balfour of Burleigh's committee, which went very thoroughly into the wholo matter of the tariff. That was a very plain statement by vory dis- ' tinguished politicians. He could not say that prior to tho war all the members of this committee were in favour of preference or in sympathy with protection, because they were not. Ono member had. admitted to him that before the war freo trade had been "to him'a'religion and . .that he had regarded it as ; impossible that he would ever alter his opinions regarding it, but he heartily concurred : in the finding of the committee recommending preference. .' '.\ So, Mr. Massey continued, they could seo that for many years the Empire had been playing into the hands of Germany. One member of the committee he had Teferred to was only one of millions who had made a similar change of opinion. , Mr. W. A. Yeitoh (Wanganui): Werb the members of the committee all members of the British Parliament?

Mr. Massey: Yes-. All private members • thcro was not a Minister amongst them.

'Paying Germany's Soldiers. As one example of the manner in which the free-trade policy has militated against tho Empire, Mr. Massey quoted tiie. case of tho 6ugar trade. •had paid a handsome bonus on every ton of sugar exported from the country, which had resulted in a, very great; increase in Germany's trade in tnis commodity, while that of Britain steadily decreased. Capital invested in the sugar trado in England had been withdrawn. The first result of tho Gorman policy was that a very largo numbor of sons of tho soil had "boon kopfc on tho land producing sugar, and these were tho men who were fighting us to-day. This was the way Germany had kept up her agricultural population. . ■-."»• Tho unwisdom of the policy of Britain prior to the war was now. manifest, vbeoausp it was clear that the polioy of-pre-ference -which he had introduced, and Which had-been endorsed, was the only method' by which such a Dominion as New' Zealand could'bo built up.

One of the most valuable ways of keeping the Empire together was the provi-sion-of tho best means of communication between '■ different, parts of the Empire. He had no hesitation in saying, speaking from 'tho point of view of tho Empire as a'whole, that tho maintenance of an efficient telegraph service; whether by cable 'or by wireless, and'of tho most rapid possible-" mail service, -was of theutmost importance, even if a certain amount of public money had to be used, and if this were done .the taxpayer would not havo , the slightest objection. (Hear, hear.")

Tho Empire's Highway. The great hignway between tho outlying portions of tno Umpire and tno iiotueriand, Mr. Massey continued, was . the sea, and must always bo tuo sea, anil it was our duty to make the most ot it. That commodities should bo carried ac ,tuo least possible- rate was to tho bench! both of tiie producers and the consumers., in the matter of ocean carriage lie did not say that the Stato should altogether take the place of' individual enterprise.' The Dominion depended tor litprosperity on its produce, and by encouraging the producer they were oriug ing about the prosperity, of the Dominion as. a.whole. .A valuable example'of"what might be done, short of .actual State control of shipping—and he did not wish to contend at the moment that it could 1 most successfully be carried Od by tho State—was afforded by tho "United States 'Inter-State Commission. This body looked very carefully into the matter of freights,' and when it reported that freights were exorbitant, they must be reduced. Something similar was very urgently required in the Empire.' The com- ' mission consisted of experienced'shipping men, and all matters of freight could safely bo -referred to them;- His : owu. opinion now- was, let private enterprise have its opportunity, and if it did not give satisfaction.-then let'the Statu step in. '

' Methods of Preference. Mr. Massey mentioned ono of''tho" methods of preference used _% America in her navigation laws, which mado it impossible for goods or passengers to bo carried from any American port to any other American port, even in an America a possession, fxcept in an American ship. Was there any reason why Britain should not do it? He knew it would be said that Britain could not provide all tho ships- and all the men necessary. His had no doubt, however, that Britain, with the maritime- instincts of her people, would very soon provide alL,the ships and all the seamen required under the now order of things. Another method: He saw no reason why wo should not. discriminate in port charges in British ports between British ships and foreign ships,

(Hear, hear.) These things would have to be considered when the reorganisation of tho Empire was being taken in hand.

Migration. Mr. Massey spoko-W the second part of his motion referring lo migration. Ho was strongly of opinion that we should not in futni'o lose so many of our people by allowing .them to migrate to other countries onlsido tho Empire without doing eomothing to induce thorn lo settle within tho Empire, whero there was ample room for them. Tt was not.possible for Britain, to feed herself within her own country. Ho knew something of what could bo done by intensive cultivation, but oven under . tho most favourable circumstances Great Britain could produco only a very email part of tho foodstuffs required for her people. And surely it would be better for Britain to have her food produced within the Empire by British citizens than to place orders with people who had been bitter onemies of our country and our Flag. He hoped that the British Government would make tho best arrangements possible-' to ensure that if emigration did take place tho emigrants would go to countries of the Empire. This country, in common with other parts of the Empire, would have to bear ■ heavy burdens after the war. There was onlv' one way in which these burdens could be borne, and this was by every country doing its best to 6peed up development of its resources and increase output, increase the inward flow of capital, and so increase its ability to take .the strain. .. He asked the House to accept his assurance that ho had not the slightest idea that this auestion wonld not have been raised if he.had not moved it. lne question.was in the air, and it would certainly have been raised by somebody.