COMING PROBLEMS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 May 1917, Page 2

COMING PROBLEMS.

TRADE RELATIONS AFTER THE WAR. KEEP INGMbLT ALIEN GOODS. GERMANS AND NATURALISATION. Trade after the war was one of the important subjects referred to by Mr James Macintosh, president of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, at the annual meeting on Wednesday afternoon. Mr Macintosh stated that on this point there had been, practically, unanimity throughout the British Empire, and now, judging by the reports so far appearing in the Press, the War Conference had endorsed these views, and each member of the conference had agreed to introduce legislation in the Parliament of his own country'to give effect thereto- Briefly, wliat was sought was: —(1) Preferential reciprocal trading relations between all parts ot the British Empire; (2) reciprocal trading between all parts of the British Empire and the Allied countries; (•!) favourable treatment of neutral countries; (4) no trade with .enemy countries. This last, said the president, might seem to he too sweepingly expressed, hut, thought out, that was what was in most minds, and

therefore most desired at the present moment. Many and varied suggestions had been made, but they could all be comprehended within two heads—(a) prohibitive duties to keep out goods, (bT largely increased port and ship dues to discourage shipping, and some had gone further and advocated a poll tax on, at any rate, German enemies, and even to the length of saying that no German should be allowed, to settle in British territory at alb “As regards this last,” said the speaker, “one thing is certain, and that is that naturalisation in future will not be as easy for the German as in the past- It may be that, as far as the German is concerned, there shall be no question of naturalisation within the British Empire for a lengthened period, probably fifty years, and this, I think, would, in view of our experience since this war broke out, bo not only prudent, but entirely justifiable. No person has,anv right to seek the citizenship of another nation without relinquishing’ absolutely at once, and for ever, his own- The German could not do this, for Germany holds the first mortgage, so ; to speak, over all her neople ] wherever they may bt>. so that all * a German seeking citizenship in another country could give that country would be in the 'nature of ' a second mortgage; and that is ( not e-cod enough. r “Now it may safely be assumed £ that effect will be given to the re- t xrrangement of tariffs _ as indi--” mted under these headings, and :hat probably before_ this year is vut- In pny case, it is certain p hat legislative action' -will be p ;aken in time to prevent any a

enemy goods or enemy ships finding their way into any British ports throughout the world. That being done, our position would be something like this : “1 The Family (a) the Motherland, and the Dominions, Colonies, and India. £l 2- The friends of the Family, or first inner circle—our Allies, “3- Onlookers or second inner circle—neutrals- _» “4. Outsiders. “Xow what will the effect of all this be? Let us take the outsiders first- Of the four nations concerned, Germany and Austria are the only trading ones, and they will be intensely desirous of regaining their lost place in the commercial world- Naturally, they will look first to the old / channels, and what will thew-A*-find ? The neutral countries only, ' and their erstwhile allies, Bulgaria and Turkey, or whatever may remain of them- In those only can they hope to trade ou' equal, or perhaps better terms than their opponents- The whole of the Eastern and almost all, if not all before the war is over, of the Western world closed against them- With their colonies gone, and all these markets closed to them, what will follow? Further, there is the problem of surplus population in the near futureWater may be confined for a time, but, if its bulk is being steadily added to, what then?' These are questions for statesmen to ponder over, and it is not for me to venture an opinion as to the wisdom of this “bottling up” policy- That the Germans deserve this treatment there can be no question, but is there not a doubt as to the wisdom, to say nothing more, of Inflicting the full measure of punishment? Conouer them, and mush their militarism by all means, so that it may never rear its head again; and in doing this we would be doing the German people the greatest service, for we vould be breaking the yoke from their necks and making them a ree people. But, having ■ done his, should we not temper justice nid mercy ? This is not the time o speak of these things, perhaps, mt it is the time to think of

them, so that when the time of settlement comes the British people all the world oyer will give further proof of their belief in. and adherence to, the Divine injunction ‘to do justly and tc, love mercy- ’ ”