EMPIRE TRADE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 140, 13 June 1912, Page 7

EMPIRE TRADE

ROYAL COLONIAL INSTITUTE DEVELOPMENT FUND ON LINES PROPOSED BY AUSTRALIA IN 1907. By Telegraph.—Press Association.— Copyright, (deceived Juno 13, 10 a.m.) ■ LONDON, 12th June. Owing to the apathetic lveponso for funds, the Empire Trade and Industries Committee of the Royal Colonial Institute has memorialised the Empire Trade Commission, urging the establishment, of an Empire development fund on the lines proposed by Australia at the 1907 conference. The committee suggests that any difficulty with regard to the apportionment of the fund could be overcome by leaving each Dominion free to vote what it pleads. Probably, it thinks, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom might readily vote money to facilitate communication. .by the Atlantic, Pacific, and Panama routes, while the Commonwealth and New Zealand might contribute with a view to reducing the Suez Canal dues. The scheme might lead to subsidised mail services, arranged jointly, with a view to economy and co-ordination. [The objects of the committee are to facilitate, encourage, and arrange industrial conferences or meetings to be attended by men of affairs from any or all parts of the Empire, in order to discuife questions of common interest, with a view to regulating and co-ordinating the conditions of Empire trade and industry } and (2) to encourage and facilitate Empire trade and industry by, e.g., arranging for the reading of papers and delivery of addresses on financial, ihdustrial, and trade subjects by authorities before the Institute itself and before Chambers of Commerce, trade bodies and lilte institutions in, the leading industrial centres. It was suggested at the Imperial Conference in 1907 that for the purpose of carrying out a project for the development of communications within the Empire, such financial support as might be necessary should be contributed by Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in equitable proportions.] ■