GIVE AND TAKE

Evening Star, Issue 21013, 29 January 1932, Page 9

GIVE AND TAKE

"4 MR THDMAS ON THE IMPERIAL CONFERENCE HO FOREIGN TRADE TREATY MEANTIME (British Official Wireless.) Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. RUGBY, January 27. The preparations for the Imperial Economic Conference are making good progress. Mr J. H. Thomas ( Dominions Secretary), in an interview, said that the representative of the British Government would attend unhampered by* adherence to the particular creed which has hitherto guided British policy. For the conference to achieve lasting beneficial results the concessions must not be all on one side, and for this reason the British Government had a special interest in the viewpoints of tho dominions, whose individual interests differed widely. A detailed examination was essential, and here and in the dominions representatives of the Governments concerned were in contact. A Cabinet Committee, under Mr Stanley Bruce, was directing the preparatory work in Australia, and the South African Government had appointed representatives for a similar purpose. The British Government was discussing trade questions that would arise with interested bodies in England, and to-morrow he (Mr Thomas) would meet the British Committee on Empire Trade, comprising representatives of the Federation ot British Industries, the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, tho Chamber of Shipping, and representatives of several manufacturing and trade associations. Mr Thomas said that to advance the date of the conference was impossible, in view of domestic affairs here and in the dominions, and much preliminary work had to be done. Meanwhile no negotiations whatever on trade relations with foreign countries would be undertaken, that would prejudice free and unfettered discussion at Ottawa. “A NEW ECONOMIC EMPIRE" BRITAIN PREPARED TO ACT. LONDON, January 28. . (Received January 29, at 9 a.m.) The 1 Daily Telegraph ’ says that the British delegation to go to Ottawa is prepared, nob merely to strike a bargain, but to lay the foundations oft what Mr Bennett called “ a new economic Empire.” The feeling is strong throughout the country that the future of the British Empire is at stake, and failure would be an irretrievable disaster..

BRITAIN'S TARIFF QUESTION OF FOREIGN PREFERENCES. LONDON, January 28. (Received January 29, at 10 a.m.) Mr J. H. Thomas reaffirmed the assurances of Mr Chamberlain and Mr Runciman that no preferences would be granted to a foreign country until after the Imperial Conference. New preferences' must be revealed, not in the clauses of a tariff, but in the actual exchange of commodities. No two dominions had the same predominant interests. That should make easier trade arrangements between themselves, as well as with the United Kingdom.