WORLD PROBLEMS

Evening Star, Issue 19699, 28 October 1927, Page 7

WORLD PROBLEMS

CGHRCE AND INDUSTRY THE ECONOMIC CONFERENCE AUSTRALIAN DELEGATION’S REPORT. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. CANBERRA, October 28. (Received October 23, at 9.135 a.m.) The report of the Australian delegation to the International Economic Conference, hold at Genova last, May, which was presented in the House of Representatives, deals with the economic conditions of the countries represented at tho conference. It expresses tho opinion that of the European countries only France, Italy, and Sweden, appeared to have retained, of increased, their production; while Germany- had not maintained a favorable balance, and production in the United Kingdom had been generally lower. The report states that the war reinforced the continuous tendency for raw material to bo worked up in the country of production, instead of its being sent to Europe for manufacture; and advances in technique, resulting in the increased uso of hydro-electric power and petroleum, caused a reduction in the demand for coal. Increased tariffs outside Europe, frequent alterations; in tariff schedules, unstable currency conditions, and frontier changes are also advanced as reasons for the present unsettled conditions of commerce and industry, Tho chief trouble now was neither any material shortage in natural resources, nor human inadequacy to exploit them, but the hindrances of the free flow of labor, capital, and. goods. The removal of these obstacles required international action. ,