The Dominion THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1929. FREE TRADE WITHIN THE EMPIRE

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 138, 7 March 1929, Page 10

The Dominion THURSDAY, MARCH 7, 1929. FREE TRADE WITHIN THE EMPIRE

Free trade within the Empire is at present merely a slogan. All that operates is a system of preferential rebates which, as was seen in the case of South Africa the other day, may be extended to foreign countries. That, in the opinion of. Lord Melchett, expressed at a meeting of the Empire Industries Association on a recent occasion, is an insecure basis for the future of British industry. Lord Melchett, better known as Sir Alfred. Mond, has demon: strated on various notable occasions his. capacity for constructive vision. .At one time he was a strong opponent of the late Mr. Joseph Chamberlain’s Imperial fiscal policy.. Since then he has recanted, and swung further in the opposite direction. Certain tendencies he has observed in Canada and South Africa have now convinced him of the importance of immediate action ‘ to ensure that Great Britain will find a market for her products in the Dominions by building up a tariff wall which will secure free trade within the Empire, but not with foreign countries.” A few days ago one of our local bodies had an animated discussion as to whether preference, should be given, in the purchase of certain material, to Great Britain or Germany. The British was the dearer article, but it was. arguable whether the German product, which was cheaper, was not the better. In the end the vote went to the British. Imperial sentiment , won. The problem in Lord Melchett’s mind is how to make Imperial sentiment not only a desirable proposition, but a profitable one. “Trade figures,” said Lord Melchett in the course of his remarks, * “show that inter-imperial trade is increasing, and as Great Britain was the workshop of the world 50 years ago, so it can be the workshop of the Empire now. A conference of leading business men from all parts of the Empire to discuss trade and effect trade agreements should be called without delay, and its object should be Free Trade within the Empire. The future ofi the Empire lies on the ocean, which has become an avenue of transport rather than,an obstacle to trade in recent years, and people should apply their imagination to an Empire economic complex rather than think colloquially.” Lord Melchett’s idea, in other words, is to make the British Empire a self-contained, self-supporting economic unit. To build upon that idea one must begin by regarding it as a profitable possibility, and by admitting that world conditions have so changed that a reorientation of British tradition on these questions is necessary. Other countries have erected tariff walls. Why not the British 'Empire? ' . The London Morning Post, commenting editorially on Lord Melchett’s speech, reminded its readers that there was a time when free trade within the Empire was possible. “If,” it said, “the advice of Jan Hofmeyr, Mr. Deakiri, and Sir Samuel Griffith had been taken, we should now have a tariff wall round the whole British Empire, just as there is a tariff wall round the United States.” In dealing with this question, one has to face the natural prompting of the individual to buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest market. It is not easy to persuade him that such a policy is not the sole end of a nation’s economy. The only way to convince him is to demonstrate to him that his policy if persisted in to the disadvantage of the Empire, may ultimately spell his own economic destruction. At the same time it has to be remembered that the overseas Dominions are developing their own home industries, and insist on protecting them, even against British goods. There would be considerable opposition in this country, for example, to the abolition of certain protective duties we have against Australia. This latter is a point to which Lord Melchett possibly has attached too little weight, but it has a very important bearing on his Imperial, free trade'proposition. If wages and conditions throughout the Empire were uniform, that would be another matter.