BANFF CONFERENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 83, 5 October 1933, Page 12

BANFF CONFERENCE

IMPEESSIVE MEETING

LADY DELEGATE'S COMMENTS

"Tho delegates met in the most wonderful surroundings of rivers, waterfalls, and towering mountains," said Miss Mary Scaton, who lias just returned from tho Conference of tho Institute of Pacific Eolations at Banff,! Canada, during an interview with. a 'tost" representative. "There were j many keen alpinists among tho delo-j gates, but in spite of outside attrac-1 tions it was seldom'that any delegate missed a meeting, interest in the problems to be discussed being so keen." The delegates, who numbered 137, represented the countries of the Pacific, also Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands, tho International Labour Office, and the League of Nations Secretariat. Among those from Great Britain were Sir Herbert Samuel (leader of the Liberal Parliamentary Party), Miss Margaret Fry (member of the House of Commons Committee on Prison Labour), and Dr. Gregory (Professor of Economics at London University). UNUSUAL METHODS. "The Pacific Relations Conference proceeds along lines not followed by the average conference," said Miss Scaton. "The members do not attempt to come to concrete solutions nor to pass resolutions. They do not wait upon Governments, urging certain lines of action nor requiring financial aid. The institute finances itself, "and is therefore independent. Its aim is to promote international good feeling and the method is to call a conference every two years when delegates can meet and discuss tho pressing problems of the day. In between conferences, groups in each country carry on research work and collect the facts for the subject for discussion. These facts are published and are available to anyone who wishes to make use of them." QUESTIONS DISCUSSED. The main (problem under discussion at1 Banff hack been economic conflicts in the Pacific area. "Their ideas of the cause and control of these conflicts seemed to Include almost every activity of man," said Miss Seaton. "Those that were the most pressing were the Chinese-Japanese dispute over Manchuria, and the struggle between Japan, India, and Great Britain for markets for the products of the cotton mills. Involved with these were such matters as pressure of population in China and Japan, the control' of raw materials for the nations of the East, tariff, barriers, surplus sugar,'and the clashing of national cultures." The education of public opinion towards a broader international view had been discussed and proposals for avoiding trade conflicts by national planning. Quota ' schemes had also been considered. "This may be said to be tho first international.conference, at which 'planners' from various nations were able to- meet and discuss plans for what they believed might be a new international economy in which planning, adjustment, and control will replace international hostility," said Miss Seaton. "It was a wonderful experience to be there and to hear such clever men' and women discussing vital problems." THIRTY ECONOMISTS DIFFER. "The delegates were divided into four Kound Tables, which met every morning. In the afternoons the New Zealand group used to meet on the terrace to compare notes, and in the evening I;here were concerts and lectures until the.National Recovery Act of the United States became so absorbing that several evenings were given to lectures, debates, and discussions on it. "There were some thirty economists, each with his theory of how to put the world right and why tho National Recovery Act must succeed—or could not possibly* do sol Perhaps it is as well that the institute does not try to come to any conclusion,'_' said Miss Seaton. "Dr. Gregory was 'very definite in his opinion that the Act would not work. The United States economists were equally sure that it must succeed. INTERESTING WOMEN. "One of the most outstanding of the women was Miss Margaret Try. She is of medium height with greying hair and a kindly, sympathetic manner, but most determined. One felt that having taken up any matter' she would carry it through to the end aimed at. ' She was chairman of one of the Round Tables, on education, and made a masterly summing up of the diseusion. Miss Try is now visiting China. English people have been so impressed by the culture, eloquence, the force of character, and charming personality of the Chinese women who have visited England that it was felt the time had come when China should be visited by an Englishwoman who would be equally impressed. Miss Fry's visit will be a great encouragement to the Chinese women in their struggle to build up a culture adapted to the new condition which faced them, but at the same time preserving the good of the old culture. "I had the pleasure of travelling all the way with Dr. Georgina Sweet, of Melbourne," Miss Seaton. remarked. "She will be international chairwoman at the next Pan-Pacific Women's Conference, to be held at Honolulu in August, 1934. At Honolulu Div Sweet and I spent the evening with Mrs. Swanzy and members of the Honolulu committee. They are very busy with their plans. Dr. Sweet is now in the United States visiting various centres and arranging the programme." The conference, is regarded as having been most successful, concluded Miss Seaton in relieving tension between national groups and in bringing about, a better understanding of the complex problems involved.in'the clashing that has. been the experience of nations in the great Pacific area.