EMPIRE COOPERATION

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 121, 20 February 1928, Page 9

EMPIRE COOPERATION

ESSENTIAL TO STIMULATE EFFICIENCY VALUE OF PREFERENCE TO BRITISH TRADE LESSONS FROM AMERY’S TOUR Mr. Amery says he has returned from his tour with tenfold greater optimism, and that a new spirit is stirring the Empire to a sense of a common destiny and responsibility. By telegraph.—phess association. Copyright. London, February 17. A representative gathering of Briish, Dominion, and colonial administrators, financiers, and industrialists attended the Empire producers’ organisation luncheon, and welcomed Air. Leopold Amery. The gathering included Lord Glendyne, Lord Clarendon, Lord Rodney, Air. W. C Bridgeman (First Lord of the Admiralty), Air. W. G. A. Ormsby-Gore (Secretary of State for the Dominions), and Air. A. AL Samuel (Financial Secretary to the Treasury). Cabled congratulations generally expressed the hope that the tour had been productive of real valu in promoting Imperial unity and co-op-eration.

Air. B. H. Alorgan said that Empire producers regarded Air. Amery as the greatest advocate for Imperial preference in the Government, to whom the Empire was indebted for sugar, tobacco, wine, and dried fruits preferences, which had vastly stimulated Empire production. Such expansion was merely a hint that developments were likely' to follow a full-blooded policy. Air. Amery, responding to the toast of his health, said that he returned with tenfold greater optimism, and that a new spirit was stirring the. Empire to a sense of a common destiny and responsibility. Such idealism would enable the Empire to triumph over all its difficulties, and achieve a worldwide combination, with absolute freedom and effective unity. He paid a tribute to the amazing progress of the Dominions’ primary and secondary production, and also to the progress in research, instancing New Zealand’s aim to create the world’s leading dairy research in memory of Air. William Massey. The British Government was co-operating through the Empire Alarketing Board in large-scale research, which was vital to the efficiency of Empire production. "If we embark on a new policy of Empire co-operation, it is essential to stimulate efficiency in every part of the Empire,” said Air. Amery. “We should not provide shelter for inefficiency. If Britons make up their minds to develop Imperial preference it will not be sheltering inefficiency at the British consumers’ expense, but still further encouraging efficiency and securing increased production, and will be practically costless. Similarly, British manufacturers cannot expect preferences unless they keep efficiency to the forefront, in order to conquer Empire markets. It would be disastrous to British trade if New Zealand and Australia discontinued their preferences. “The Empire needs creative and economic development by co-ordinating the immense human material and resources, and organising the purchasing power of every part. We could thus achieve prosperity and social well-be-ing such as the world has not previously known.”

Sir Hutrh Denison, in proposing the toast of “The Chairman, Mr. Morgan,” said that he had studied American methods of business in regard to mass production, salesmanship, and organisation. He had heard the big industrialists explain how thev proposed to capture the markets of the world. It was especially interesting to hear them, because the majority who were successful were of British stock. He admitted that the only markets still open were those inside the British Empire, and the onlv remedy against invasion was Imperial preference.