OTTAWA CONFERENCE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 205, 30 July 1932, Page 7

OTTAWA CONFERENCE

BUTTER FROM DOMINIONS

PROPOSALS BY DELEGATES INCREASE IN PREEERENCE DESIRED (United Press Association. —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright,) Received July 30, 11.10 a.m. OTTAWA, July 29. An inaccurate report has been published stating that the Dominion butter proposals include the request that Britain should reduce the foreign butter imports from 205,000 tons .yearly to 117,000 tons.

It is officially stated that the proposals, while seeking the introduction of the quota, particularly refrained from specifying any definite figures. The proposals also request an increase in the preference from Id to 2d per pound.

A suggestion for a blunt request for a certain _ specified quantitative restrictions was vetoed by an overwhelming majority of the Dominion delegates. It is considered a more polite and sounder method to endeavour to get the principle of a quota established and then discuss the quota details with Britain later.

The Dominion delegations deplore the incorrect version which may possibly prejudice the negotiations.

BUTTER PROPOSALS

Empire alone, representing a vast group of nations whose currencies are linked to sterling, might to some extent new succeed with a plan for raising the price levels. The second school is of the opinion that the question is so wide that the better plan would be to bring in all the nations for the purpose of reviewing and, if possible, adjusting tlio world monetary problems which are necessarily linked up with the Empire’s depression and believes that only international action can be effective.

THIRD STAGE REACHED

Received July 30, 12.30 p.m. OTTAWA, July 27. The butter proposals have reached the third stage. The first was the Dominion agreement regarding tne requests ; the second the reference of the proposals to the British delegations; the third the discussion of • the details between the British and Dominion officials who will next deal with meat and fruit. The fourth stage will be further discussions between the British and Dominion delegations; the fifth Britain’s decisions. The Sub-Committee on Industrial Standardisation discussed chiefly the steps the various Dominions have taken to carry out the decisions of the 1930 Conference.

There is no hint as yet which line the Conference will take, but Australia is subscribing to the first school and still hopes for some progress towards a solution of the currency difficulties at Ottawa.

The Sub-Committee for the Promotion of Empire Trade elected Mr Walter Runciman chairman and discussed the question of the Empire content.

MEAT PROPOSALS.

MR BALDWIN’S STATEMENT.

BRITISH VIEWPOINT,

GRADUATED PREFERENCES

Received July 30, 9.15 a.m. OTTAWA, July 29. A tentative, but authoritative, British view regarding the outcomo of the meat proposals has been secured. While the . exigencies of bargaining may impel Britain to accede to a small duty on meat, there are special considerations, apart from the extensive financial interests in. Argentina which make the British delegation reluctant to remove meat _ from the free list. There is no certainty that a small duty would increase the price of meat to the British housewife. . It is noted that the butter pnoe has actually fallen since the 10 per cent, duty was imposed, and there is a steady drop in the general market, but everyone hopes the prices of primary products will shortly have a natural rise, in which case the public would contribute the amount of the duty, however small, in the increased meat price. Britain might decide for the sake of the Dominions that it is worth while to increase the duties on butter, cheese and eggs from the present 10 per cent, to 15 per cent. When it conies to a question of removing wheat and meat from the free list, it provokes a discussion because it affects the basic commodities slogan which, above all others, would excite the British public against the Government. There would be the statement: “They are taxing bread and meat,” Whilo the British Government might be able to persuado the public that they have gained sufficient concessions from the Dominions to justify such a duty, the British delegation realises that within say two years there will be bitter criticism because the natural increase in prices in the interim would be blamed to the removal of wheat and meat from the free list. The delegation considers it problematical whether the Dominions would gain an appreciable advantage from a small duty on meat even if, with the marketing conditions continuing as at presont, prices underwent a slight natural increase. The view at present taken is that, unless the Australians and South Africans could rapidly make enormous improvements in the quality of their stock, they would be asking the British consumer to curtail the consumption of the high grade Argentine article and eat a larger quantity of inferior articles. It is logical that the British housewife would warmly resent coercion to buy an inferior beef at a higher price. . Such a result—which the British Government would hesitate to bring, about, knowing it would cause the imperilling of the swing of public opinion | in an industrial country like Britain might eventually turn public sentiment against Imperial preference as being bought too dearly. So far as the British farmer is concerned, he has already suffered greatly through the fall in lamb and mutton prices, but the marked discrepancy always prevailing between English fresh and imported meat means that he would practically be unaffected by any small duty imposed on the foreign product. . . The whole crux of the Dominions’ case, particularly the Australian, is that a quantitative restriction would not actually and need not be permitted to raise the price of beef to the British consumer. Without a quota Argentina is able to flood the British market at all seasons, even soiling below cost or at least undercutting the frozen beef wliicl) the Dominions consider should have some protection. They have made meat the strongest plank of the Conference programme, realising that if the present conditions are allowed to continue the great Australian primary industry would be in a hopeless state.

(British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, July 28. Regarding the preferences accorded by the Dominions, Mr Baldwin’s state-' ment at Ottawa urges that _ if preferI ence is to be of material assistance the rate of duty charged should ho _ so graduated as to givo to United Kingdom products real assistance and should be fijfed for protective purposes no higher than is necessary to give reasonably efficient industry in the Dominions a fair chance. Attention is called to the favourable tariff treatment which Britain has | hitherto accorded to Dominions’ imports competing with goods she herself I produced. That over half of Britain’s I exports go to foreign countries, that I slio is highly industrialised and that she lias two and three-quarter millions unemployed are facts used to emphasise the point that anything tending to check Britain’s foreign exports must lessen the purchasing and saving power of her people and so damage markets on which, the Dominions so largely depend. REMOVING MISCONCEPTIONS. REALISING THE FACTS. LONDON, July 28. The statement made by Mr Baldwin at Ottawa is a leading feature in the newspapers. The editorials support its arguments, except that in the Daily Express, which continues to be highly critical of Mr Baldwin and declares that there is nothing in the statement except ancient history. The Times says that the British statement at Ottawa was plainly necessary to remove misconceptions which have been given wide currency and which might otherwise wreck the Conference. Not only the delegates, but also the Dominion public, should realise the fact of their trade with Britain. An agreement will soon bo reached now that it is known what the Dominions and Britain mutually desire. AMERICAN COMMENT. AUSTRALIA’S DEMANDS. NEW YORK., July 28. The New York Times says: “The chief of the Australian delegation demanded from Britain preferential treatment for Australian foodstuffs that would interfere seriously with the entry of Argentine meats and Danish dairy products. Britain is thus asked to sacrifice two of her best customers, despite having enormous interests in the Argentine. Mark, too, that Australia, like the other Dominions, seeks industrial self-sufficiency, and is bound to protect her manufacturers. There is a multiplicity of causes for a division at Ottawa not only between the Dominions and the Mother Country but between the Dominions themselves.” SUCCESS VITAL. OTTAWA, July 28. Interviewed by an Ottawa newspaper, Lord Hailsham said the Conference was shaping like a success. It was vital that it should succeed, “otherwise it means the breaking up of the Empire within my lifetime. If the Empire goes, there is little hope for the world. We are now waiting to see what the Dominions are prepared to do. Then we can give our reply.” Questioned as to whether Britain would give the full embargo on Russian wheat and timber which Australia and Canada were seeking, Lord Hailsham said that she might not he able to do all that was asked, hut she certainly could do something.

CURRENCY COMMITTEE. TWO SCHOOLS OP THOUGHT. Received July 30, 12.10 p.m. OTTAWA, July 29. The principal Conference business today was the meeting of the Currency Committee, which continued the discussions on the effect of the recent changes in the price levels and also the instability of the exchange rates. The heads of the delegations will meet again to-morrow to further consider the Empire’s monetary problems, the subcommittee likewise meeting for a preliminary examination of technical matters. The discussions havo not reached the stage where Britain is given a lead. While there is no question of dissension .in the Conference, the speeches, some of which will probably be released to the newspapers early next week, indicate two well-known schools of thought. The first school considers that tho

LUNCHEON TO WOMEN. Received July 30, 9.35 a.m. OTTAWA, July 29. Tho National Council of Women gave a luncheon to the women accompanying the oversea delegates. Mrs Baldwin, speaking first in French and then in English, regretted that the maternal mortality was increasing in England though the infant mortality had slightly lessened. Mrs Coates described New Zealand’s welfare work for women and children. She pointed out that New Zealand formerly had the world’s highest maternal death rate and now had the lowest.

Lady Cliatterjee emphasised the great interest Indian women were taking in the Ottawa Conference and its decisions.