SYDNEY CONFERENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 92, 20 April 1938, Page 5

SYDNEY CONFERENCE

REGULATION ISSUE

OFFICIAL SURVEYS

New Zealand delegates' impressions of the results of-the British Empire Primary Producers' Conference, held in Sydney recently, were given in yesterday's "Post." ' Since yesterday the official statement of the New Zealand Farmers' Union delegation and a statement by Mr. A. J. Murdoch, leader of the New Zealand Dairy Board's representatives, have been released. The conference studied the best methods to be followed of regulating the supply of primary products to the United Kingdom and it was agreed by the New Zealand delegates that the conference was a valuable one.

Mr. Murdoch, who is the chairman of the New Zealand Dairy Board, expressed the opinion that the conference had forged an invaluable link in the chain of intra-Empire relationships.- It was the first conference of Empire producers, continued Mr. Murdoch, who said that credit for making it possible must be given in the first place to the Hon. M. P. Dunlop, M.L.A., of Sydney, chairman of the Primary Producers' Union of New South Wales.

The interest of representatives of the Southern Hemisphere in particular tended to centralise around the attitude of the delegation from the United Kingdom. After certain preliminary statements from the various delegations, the United Kingdom representatives submitted a comprehensive resolution. In the discussion o"h this resolution, which extended over several days, there came to the surface the fears of the representatives of the several Dominions that the acceptance of the resolution in the form submitted would be tantamount to an agreement that. restrictions against the importation of the Dominions' produce into the United Kingdom were inevitable. The representatives of the United Kingdom repudiated any such idea, however, -and ultimately the resolution was amended, and carried unanimously. IMPORTANT STATEMENT The resolution, as amended, while stressing the need for orderly marketing, did not in any way imply restriction, but rather the reverse. Nevertheless, even after the unanimous acceptance of the resohition by the conference, certain representatives expressed anxiety on that score. Accordingly, Sir Reginald Dorman Smith, leader of the United Kingdom delegation, made an all-important statement and asked that it be recorded in the minutes. The statement read "In view of certain apprehensions which have been expressed at this conference on behalf of Australian dairy produce interests, the United Kingdom delegation desire to state and to have it officially placed on record that in their view by no stretch of the imagination can the endorsement by this conference of the Ottawa order of preference in itself involve restrictions of supplies of dairy produce to the United Kingdom market; indeed, it is hoped that none will become necessary. The firm intention of the United Kingdom delegation is to co-operate in every possible way with Dominion producers' organisations to avert the necessity of Government intervention. Our understanding of the purpose of this conference is that the institution of commodity councils 'shall provide the best means of dealing with, or warding off, the necessity for any restriction of supplies, and the United Kingdom delegation will use all its influence to secure that these councils shall control the position to that end." COMMODITY COUNCILS. "This .statement," continued Mr. Murdoch, "very definitely cleared the atmosphere and left no doubts at all in the minds of delegates, being greeted with prolonged applause. Further recommendations were made regarding the setting up of commodity councils as visualised in the main resolution, and it v/as provided that all resolutions of such commodity councils must be^ unanimous before action was taken in any direction. Behind the idea of the commodity councils is the thought that by' the garnering and collation of information and statistics and the surveying of the whole position, much can be done to assist the Governments in the various parts of the Empire, who must of necessity have 'the final word in any inter-Empire negotiations. It was- recommended that the ' Empire, conference should meet every three years, and a committee was set up for the purpose of giving consideration to the setting up of a federating organisation of 'primary producers for the Empire. The investigations in .this connection include contact with South Africa, as .well as the parts of the Empire represented at the conference. To this committee was relegated the task of convening the second British' Empire producers' conference in three years' time. The .Hon. M. P. Dunlop, M.L.C., is to act as interim secretary of this committee."

In conclusion, Mr. Murdoch said that the holding of the conference had been abundantly justified. Certain initial differences had had to be overcome at the first conference of its kind, but these would not have to be faced again. A spirit of good -will and co-operation that augured well for the future had developed between the component parts of the Empire represented by delegations.