IMPERIAL AFFAIRS

Evening Star, Issue 20853, 24 July 1931, Page 3

IMPERIAL AFFAIRS

THE DEBATE CONCLUDED [Pek United Press Association.l WELLINGTON, July 23. The Imperial Adairs debate was continued when tho House resumed at 7.30 p.m. •Mr D. Jones (Mid-Canterbury) expressed the opinion that the Empire Marketing Board was doing remarkably good work for New Zealand. As a result of its activities we were actually receiving preference from Great Britain because it was continually bringing under the notice of tho people in tho United Kingdom the necessity for buying Empire goods. It had been said that the British Government favoured bulk purchase, but Mr Jones denied this, declaring that no definite scheme of bulk purchase had been submitted to the Imperial Conference. Support for this scheme was confined to the Socialistic wing of'the British Parliamentary Labour Party. It was purely a Socialistic venture. Mr P. Fraser (Wellington Central) declared that there was not the slightest foundation for the statement that bulk purchase was not included in the policy of the British Labour Government or of tho Labour Party. He quoted from ‘ Labour and tho Nation,’ which, ho said, contained the official platform on which tho British Labour Party had faced tho electors. It was definitely established, Mr Fraser contended, that bulk purchase formed part of Labour’s agricultural policy. Mr Fraser asked whether Mr Jones thought it likely that the British Government would have submitted a cut and dried scheme of bulk purchase to the conference intimating that those were its proposals, and the dominions could take them or leave them. He stated that tho British Government had taken the traditional course of including in its agenda sufficient to open up tho question of bulk purchase, and tho committee had actually considered tho proposal, hltimatoly deciding that there was not enough time to deal with it and leaving it for tho Ottawa Conference. Ho expressed regret that the conference had not shown more determination in dealing with the question of tho nationality of married women. Peplying to the debate, Mr Forbes said that there had never been any definite suggestion made in respect to bulk purchase. Ho wanted some practical details before ho was prepared to commit tho dominion to any scheme Ho had never heard, while in the Old Country, any suggestion as to how tho scheme of bulk purchase and import boards could bo brought into ollect.