EMPIRE CUSTOMS UNION

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22438, 19 September 1947, Page 5

EMPIRE CUSTOMS UNION

MODIFIED PLAN RECOMMENDED

COMMONWEALTH DELEGATES VIEW (N.Z.P.A.—Reuter— Copyright.) i* '(11 a . m .) • LONDON, September 18. %[ British Commomvealth and Empire delegates in London for • the International Bank meetings, decided at a private meeting today, to recommend to their Governments that a Commonwealth si and Empire customs union “in modified form” should be adopted. ;;; Keuter says the Dominion delegates will continue discussions with British Treasury officials.

Import Control and Protection

It is understood that the purpose of the meeting tomorrow is to draw up Commonwealth and Empire dollar requirements in the coming year. Canada, which is outside the sterling area, is not represented. Reuter adds that it is understood Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Indian delegates agreed that while the customs union proposal would mean throwing overboard many essential parts of their economies as at present constituted, control of imports and protection of secondary indusries must be continued. The reports that Canada had decided to devalue her dollar or pay a premium on gold production were promptly denied in Toronto leaving still wide open the question of what she will do regarding her dwindling supply of United States dollars. The reports were circulated in London, Toronto and New York Stock exchanges, sending gold and newsprint share into sharp gains on the Canadian exchanges. The Canadian Minister of Finance, Mr. Douglass Abbott, in London, des--cribed the reports as absolutely without foundation. “This is an old rumour which is resurrected every few weeks,” he haid No spectacular reduction of tariffs and preferences could be expected at this moment, said the President of the Board of Trade, Sir Stafford Cripps, in a speech to a meeting of representatives of Scottish industry at Edinburgh. It was impossible for Britain to take drastic steps which would only encourage imports from areas from which Britain could not afford to buy and discourage them from areas where Britain wanted trade. Balancing Up Advantages “We are confident, however, that the offers we made to adjust our own tariffs and preferences or to accept an adjustment of those of other Commonwealth countries are sufficient to balance the advantages that we and others will get from a reduction in tariffs offered by other countries,” he said. “We hope that our American friends will not press us to go further in eliminating or reducing preferences than facts and psychology make possible.” Sir Stafford Cripps said that good progress had been made at Geneva. He hoped the forthcoming conference at Havana would pave the way for realising truly multilateral trade. It must be recognised, however, that this was not yet possible, largely because of the inconvertibility of currenciesThe nations must set. their future policies in the right direction and accept realistically the inevitable consequences of the present facts. One fact was that the dollar shortage, temporarily relieved by large loans from the United States, had" come back with added force, “driving us inevitably, however much we dislike it, into bilateralism and reliance on sterling as a basis for whatever multilateral trade we can enjoy.” Sir Stafford Cripps appealed to industry not to allow get-rich-quick exporters to debase the quality of British exports or tarnish Britain’s reputation. He had received complaints from abroad of the quality of British goodsWhile everything had to be done to keep prices down, he would rather see prices put up than black marketeers in other countries getting away with enormous profits at Britain’s expense. “As a whole, however, we shall be selling our goods in highly competitive markets and often over tariff barriers, so that the price may well be a vital factor in deciding whether we can make sales or not.” Nucleus of Customs Union

One hundred new factories had been constructed or were being built in the Scottish development scheme, said Sir Stafford Cripps. Stating that England and Scotland formed the nucleus of a customs union and had demonstrated the advantage of such integration, Sir Stafford Cripps said that Mr, Bevin’s suggestion for a Commonwealth and Empire customs union was an extension of this idea.

This is not an easy conception owing to differences in industrial development which exist in the various countries of the Commonwealth and Empire,” he added. “It is not something that we can jump into in a moment of emotional enthusiasm, but it is something well worth while examining to see if we cannot somehow reap its advantages for the whole Commonwealth and Empire. while protecting the peculiar interest of the different parts.” The assistant Secretary of States for economic affairs, Mr. William Clayton, is flying from Geneva to London tomorrow, to confer with Sir Stafford Cripps in an effort to avert a breakdown in the Empire-United States tariff negotiations. Some hopes are placed on the outcome of the meeting, says Reuter’s correspondent in Geneva but otherwise an atmosphere of gloom has descended on the negotiators. The Americans’ latest demands are far more drastic than America’s proposals when the negotiations opened. Dr. H. C. Coombs, leader of the Austrauan delegation, told correspondents that Britain, under the new demands, would have to make far greater sacrifices than the Dominions. Reuter’s adds that the Dominion delegations all referred the American demands to their home Governments and do not expect to be able to reopen discussions until September 22.