Abolition in Britain

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6992, 19 August 1929, Page 10

Abolition in Britain

MR- SNOWDEN’S FORECAST Doubtless the statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Philip Snowden, in the House of Commons foreshadowing the probable abolition of the preferences granted by Great Britain in favour of the Dominions will provoke lively discussion for some time to come. His statement regarding protective duties in this country has already had an unsettling effect upon certain industries.

In the course of his speech Mr. Snowden said: “I hope I am not anticipating any part of the Budget statement when I say that before we leave office we shall have swept away all duties on food —sugar, dried fruits, and all those articles of food which arc subject to duties at the present time. When those duties are swept away preferences will naturally go with them. "We are most anxious to promote the closest relations with every one of our Dominions and with every part of the Empire,’’ Mr. Snowden went on to say. "But we do not believe that those trade relations can be placed upon the best footing by a system of preferential tariffs, and least of all, by such proposals as the Tight hon. gentleman has identified himself with, which have been put forward by the right hon. gentleman within the last three weeks, and with recklessness by Lord Beaverbrook. (Hear, hear, and laughter). The late Mr. Joseph Chamberlain stated: 'You cannot have Imperial preference without a tax on food and Taw materials.’ I want to ask hon. members opposite: ‘ls that their policy?’ That is a policy to which we shall never subscribe.” (Ministerial cheers) .

The Marketing Board. No preferences would be given to the Dominions, continued Mr. Snowden, unless Britain took their food and raw material. That restricted the field of preferences. No one knew better than Mr. Amery about the penetration of American capital and American enterprise to Canada. The right hon. gentleman had better talk to some of his colleagues about the importance of maintaining preferences. The late Chancellor of the Exchequer had abolished the tea duty in /he last Budget, and with it swept away one of the greatest preferences in existence. (Ministerial cheers). That, of course, was for India, and India, the most populous part of the British Empire, and that part which contained and held out infiitely greater possibilities for trade than any other part of the Empire, was never mentioned in the course of the hour’s speech by Mr. Amery. "We have no intention of abolishing the Empire Marketing Board/’ declared Mr. Snowden. "The fact that we have appointed Mr. Amery a members of that board shows that we have no intention of doing so. I am sure he will put all his energy and enthusiasm for Empire development at the service of the board. (Hear, hear). "We want to promote the closest commercial relations between every part of the Empire, and, this may be information to the House, as an eahpcst of our intentions and goodwill, wo have received with very great pleasure the suggestions which had been, made by Mr, Bruce, the Australian Premier, that we should get together with a view to fostering inter-Empire trade. (Cheers). "We Lave held out an open hand, and we are at the present time engaged in communications with them to see whether it might not be possible to hold an Imperial Economic Conference for the purpose of seeing what we can do to extend inter-Empire trade. (Cheers).

Dominion’s Slow Growth. "I would like to remove the impression created by Mr. Amery as to the expansion of inter-Empire trade. Everyone who knows the circumstances must appreciate that development of the trade of Australia, New Zealaai and Canada must at best be slow. Australia, a vast continent, has a population of only 7,000,000. I believe it is only increasing by about 2 per cent.

"New Zealand, the size of this country, has a total population equal to that of Glasgow. The development of these Dominions, whatever we can do to encourage and stimulate emigration, must be slow, and therefore we cannot hope for any very largo increase of trade in the most, favourable circumstances. British imports into Australia in 1924 were early £61,000,000. In 1922 they dropped to £55,690,000. "In regard to Canada, the Dominion imports of merchandise from the United States during the 12 months ended Mardh last amounted to £178,000,00' Now, what did Canada buy from the United Kingdom? Just over £34,000,000—less than one fifth of what she bought from tho United States.”