RAW MATERIALS AND PEACE

Evening Star, Issue 22682, 23 June 1937, Page 7

RAW MATERIALS AND PEACE

COLONIAL QUESTION REVIEWED MONOPOLIES A GREAT BARRIER * Raw Materials as a Problem of World Peace ’ was the subject of an address by Dr G. C. Billing in the Theosophical Hall last evening. It was sponsored by the Otago branch of the League of Nations Union, and was ' a continuation of one delivered by the lecturer last month. “ Raw materials constitute a problem of world peace,” Dr Billing said, “ in that if the people of a certain country feel not so well off as their neighbours they entertain a sense of envy, and this feeling amounts to jealousy if one country possesses colonies and the envious one does not. This problem can bo solved if the resources of the world are distributed so as to give an equal opportunity to all.” Dr Billing showed how certain countries led the world in the output of the basic raw_ materials, and how it would be possible for national States to make it easier for others less fortunate to gain access to them. The restrictions imposed at the present day included monopolies on the exploitation of colonial territories, discriminatory duties on exports, and prohibitive tariff barriers. “ If there were no such restrictions,” Dr Billing said, “ there would be no such problem of access to raw materials.^

To reduce his lecture to manageable proportions, Dr Billing approached the problem from the German point of view, as Germany was now the only great Power not possessing colonies. He approached the question from four angles—the present source of the supplies of raw materials, the actual value of colonies, the German problem in relation to her lost colonies, and the steps now being taken by the League of Nations. He quoted cases where the national control of colonies did not give exclusive advantages to the industrialists of that country, and where raw materials were available to all on equal terms—to have access need not necessarily be to have control. He also outlined cases where limited access prevailed, citing the fact that two-thirds of the capital of all companies operating in French territory had to be of French origin. Pr Billing then dealt with the questions of mandates and exchange, pointing out Germany as the country most hard hit by the recent developments in both these spheres. A solution to the problem would be the pursuit of a policy of the “ open door ” whereby equal duties would be levied on all goods, irrespective of their source or destination. When Germany lost her colonies she lost considerable sources of raw materials, as judged by the present production of the mandated territories,'and the greater proportion of her trade to these territories passed to the mandatory Power. . German industrialists did not have equality of access-to raw materials, and this was largely due to her lack of colonies. The colonial conditions should be changed so that distribution did not matter. An equal chance of access to supplies of raw materials should he given to all—the colonial door should bo opened and held open.