Reciprocal Empire Trade

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 65, 18 March 1937, Page 12

Reciprocal Empire Trade

Empire trade was for the most part complementary and not competitive, said Captain Euan Wallace, Parliament ary secretary of the British Department of Overseas Trade, in a recent speech. To exchange the primary products of the Dominions for tho manufactures of Britain was a simple operation advantageous to all concerned. Some industrial development in Empire countries was bound to come, and, provide it was not artificially promoted upon a non-economic basis, Britain would regard it not as a menace to her home industries but as a welcome step toward a higher standard of life and a consequent increased demand for British goods. In the main the Empire overseas remained a producer of food and raw materials. For that reason they could welcome the recent upward trend of the prices of many primary products of outstanding interest to Empire countries. The primary producers of the Empire would appreciate how much they owed to that expansion of industrial activity in Britain which led last year to an increase of £63,000,000 in the value of imports of raw materials and foodstuffs, of which £36,000,000 represented additional purchases from ■within the Empire.