Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, AUG. 28, 1929. CANADA AND EMPIRE TRADE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 230, 28 August 1929, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, AUG. 28, 1929. CANADA AND EMPIRE TRADE.

Just about two months ago it was announced that Mr J. A. Robb, the Canadian Minister of Finance, was, with the sanction of his Government, putting forward proposals for a new Empire trade agreement, which it was stated would go much further than the mere revision of the existing preferential treaties. If, as Mr Robb then stated, communications had been addressed to all the Dominion Governments on the subject, the New Zealand Government should now be in possession of the necessary details, which would enable the New Zealand public to judge of the possible benefits to be derived from the proposals, assuming they were accepted. It has been stated that their adoption may divert £400,000,000 of annual trade from the United States to the Empire, and British experts who have visited Canada have emphasised the importance of developing this trade before it passes into other hands. Mr Robb’s statement is that

“We are going further than revising the preferential treaties; we have communicated with the Govern-

ments of all the Dominions looking to greater development of Empire trade.” For that purpose a conference is likely to be held, possibly in advance of the Imperial Conference which is due to assemble next year. The Canadian move has, of course, been inspired by the new American tariff, which is bound to prejudicially affect British and Empire trade. The American proposals are regarded by Canada as especially detrimental to her trade. In 1928, Canada took England’s place as the United States’ best customer. It is badly hit by the new American tariff,* which gravely affects Canada’s agricultural produce. Both Liberals and Conservatives in that Dominion have .protested against what the Conservative leader, Mr R. D. Bennett, has termed “this menace to our economic right,” resulting from the United States higher tariffs cutting out Canadian exports. The Canadian Chambers of Commerce have, also, been urging the Canadian Government to retaliate by materially increasing the preference on British imports, declaring that an extension of British preference is a better answer to the United States than retaliatory tariffs by Canada against America. And so it is. We hear a lot of pious talk about purchasing British and Empire made goods in preference to the foreign article, but it seems mostly talk, and ends in nothing practical.

Australia, in common with Canada, has protested against the new American tariff proposals, but so far the New Zealand Government has not expressed an opinion on the subject. And, as far as Australia is concerned, the Commonwealth’s imports from Britain last year show a very considerable falling off, being the lowest for the last nine years, while imports from the United States are maintaining their hold of the Australian markets at about £35,000,000 a year. The Commonwealth motor trade is dominated by America. Of 99,000 motor chassis imported into Australia last year, the United States supplied two-thirds of the number, Canada 23,000 and the United Kingdom 10,000. The balance of trade with the United States is against Australia in very much the same fashion as it is against us in New Zealand. That means, of course, that the debit balances have to be made good in London where settlements are effected.

America, by practically shutting Australian, Canadian and New Zealand produce out of the United States markets, is crippling the finances of all three Dominions, and is, also, embarrassing British finances by drawing upon the gold reserves held in London. If Mr Winston Churchill is right, Great Britain is still “the world’s greatest creditor nation.” He says “the four billions sterling which Britain had at _ the commencement of the war’ ’ is now exceeded. But Britain’s claims in that direction have been and are challenged by the United States, w-hich has already claimed the distinction. It is certainly against the interests of the British Empire to confirm the United States in that position, assuming that she holds it. There is only one way in which her pre-eminence can be successfully challenged, and that is by extending trade within the Empire that is at present going "to America. The British Empire is largely, if not fully self-contained. Eor all essential products and goods there is no need to go outside the Empire, and for non-essentials — luxuries and so forth —well, we can and should do without them. Is it not time we had a reckoning up of the situation with a view to devising on sound economic lines a scheme for keeping trade within the Empire? It needs co-ordination and the united support of the various Dominions, colonies and Empire States, and that can only be settled at a conference, which should not be confined to mere politicians, but should include business and financial experts. What is the New Zealand Government doing about it, and what does it think of the Canadian Finance Minister’s proposals? Yested interests are growing up in this country, controlled by American trusts and combines, which are likely to be difficult to throw off, if they are allowed to continue, and those interests are likely to prove just as big a menace to British trade, as the American Meat Trust threatened to become before the Reform Government found itself under the necessity of taking action against it. If the present favourable opportunity for dealing with the matter is allowed to pass, without any attempt being made to bring about a greater measure of inter-TEmpire trade, it will be found increasingly impossible to take action later on, for, by quietly accepting the further handicaps the United States is placing upon British and Empire trade, we shall have acquiesced in our own undoing.