TRADE OUTLOOK

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 147, 23 June 1928, Page 6

TRADE OUTLOOK

RELIEF AT HOME EMPIRE COMMONWEALTH A .STUPENDOUS THING (From "The Post's" Representative.) •LONDON, 2nd May. Mr. Gilbert C. Vyle, president Of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, 'was in the chair at the annual dinner, held at the Hotel .Victoria, following tfto sixty-eighth annual meoting, which had taken place earlier in the day. There was a largo and distinguished assembly ■of business men from all parts of the United Kingdom. j Chief guests of the evening were Sir P. j Cunliffe-Lister (President of the Board of Trade), Sir' John Simon, and Sit James Parr. r ' The president read the ' accompanying mesasge from the King:—"The King has received with.much pleasure the loyal message which you have addressed to His Majesty on behalf, of iho chambers of commerce assembled under your presidency. In thanking 'the delegates, for their assurances, the.King earnestly joins with .them in the hope that the coming year may bring with it everincreasiiig industrial activity and employment." : Mr. George A. Mitchell, the.new president of the association, toasting "His Majesty's Ministers," declared that the Budget speech had shown that the. Government was alive to the needs of industry, and that they recognised that the prosperity of industry was ncces- | sary for the ■ well-being of the country. ' Sir Philip Cunliffe. : Lister ; . observed that it was a very pleasant change to hear that the Government had done the [.right 'thing. He, wished to ackhowr ledge the broad-minded and generous spirit in which the railway companies ; had mot the Government in their efforts to get a practical measure of /elief, to pool any relief afforded, and to pass j.t on to those in need of it. He hoped' the railway companies would get their thanks in an increased volume of business. While the direct relief, was going to industry,, indirectly the advantage was going to every shopkeeper and trader, and every man and woman in the country. ..' •. .' ,'.'. '. '. ,'. A GREAT SPEECH. * Sir .John Simon, in a speech that held everyone spellbound, proposed the toast of the Commonwealth of British Dominions, coupled with the name of "the popular and efficient High Commissioner for New Zealand." Sir John referred to Macaulay's New Zealander, and ventured a new interpretation as to the historian's meaning.. Macaulay wrote the lines at the time that the first, migrant ships were leaving Britain's shores for that colony, and their departure Wac naturally the subject of a great deal of talk, while the name "New Zealand" occurred in everyday conversation in1 the House of Commons and outside it." Under Governor Hqbson the seat of Government was then proclaimed at Waitemata\(Auckland), and a settlement was there formed. The historian was contemplating the return in the distant future of the descendants \ ■of some of. those early pilgrims from the Mother Country. ' Sir John went on to speak, generally of the womderfiil thing, the most stupendous' thing in.;history—the.. British Empire. „., .Without aiiy special, .effort to preserve:its eonstitutibnj "Providence seemed:, to" have 'gathered these lands together into the. most mighty league—certainly the most, interesting league the world had ever seen. The British Empire was not a federation, but a Commonwealth in which co-operation on a common ground typified our.resolve to work with and help one another." "The da'y:may come,", said Sir John, \' when the Imperial".Conference may be; held with the help of television and beam wireless, with each Dominion statesman sitting among hia own colleagues in his own country, contributing from moment to moment in a common discussion in a eomaion place." (Cheers.) . ■ . POINTING THE WAY. Sir James Parr, responding;, drew the attention of. business men of Great Britain to the fact that England's trade with ■ the Dominions "was increasing every year, while her trade with the ' foreigner . was decreasing more and more. ' . . " "British industry," , said the • High Commisisoner, "is becoming dependent upon the sheltered.markets-of her own Dominions." He quoted the striking figure that in 1913 Great Britain shipped to the Dominions 37 per cent.-of her total exports. Last.year. (1927) Great Britain sent to her Dominions 19 per cent, of her exports, an increase >of 12 per. cent. "In other words," said the High Commissioner, "to-day the Dominions are not only your best customers, but they . actually take half of your total exports of manufactured • goods. And you could send us even ■ more goods than you do if British producers gave the same attention to salesmanship and cultivated the idiosyncracios of each'of the Dominions as the Americans do. Moreover, every increase in trade strengthens the bonds of Empire." THE INDIAN PROBLEM. What Sir John Simon had said gave the High Commissioner for New Zealand the opportunity to-refer to the Simon Commission and to express to Sir John the feeling of high appreciation which he was sure would be voiced by every Dominion in the Empire at his remarkable- self-sacrifice and at his great sense of public duty in throwing up enormous emoluments at the English Bar, giving up his life as .the greatest lawyer -in the Empire in order to do—what? To devote the whole of his great abilities to the subject of India, to undertake, if possible, the solution of that insoluble' problem as to what shall we; do with India. This work was a poorly paid, a thankless task, and a duty possessing grave difficulties. "So long," said Sir James, "as you have public men in this old country capable of such high ideals, of such sacrifice of self, so long will the Dominions revero and respect,you. This is the sort of tie, this is the sort of thing that cements our great Empire. We, all wish you the best of luck in your great task." (Cheers.) ■ - ; . • Before the. evening closed, Sir John Simon wont out of his Way publicly to thank the High Commissioner for New Zealand very warmly for whnt he had said. It was a great pleasure to hear that the Dominions' opinion was kindly toward him in tho task which he and his colleagues on the Commission had undertaken. ■