The Northern Advocate Daily TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1936. RAW MATERIALS

Northern Advocate, 4 February 1936, Page 4

The Northern Advocate Daily

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1936. RAW MATERIALS

Registered for transmission through the post as a Newspaper.

When Sir' Samuel Hoare was British Foreign Secretary, he made a statement regarding Britain’s foreign policy which aroused the keenest interest throughout the world. Discussing. in the House of Commons, the Halo-Abyssinian dispute, and especially Italy’s claim that access to raw materials was a matter of life and death to her. Sir Samuel said that Britain recognised the importance of the claim. He declared that Britain had no desire to monopolise the raw materials to be found within the Empire, but intended to make them available to nations which required them for the expansion of indusI tries. This was interpreted in some Iqnraters as an announcement that Britai nproposed cutting up portions of the Empire rich in raw materials and sharing them among the nations. Such an interpretation was too liberal. What Sir Samuel Hoare meant to convey was that Britain realised that no nations with territories rich in raw ma-l terials should place unnecessary •obstacles, in the shape of tariff walls and similar hindrances, in the way of nations which did not possess such materials. He very rightly pointed out that the unequal distribution of raw mater-

ials was part of an economic problem which was “endangering the peace of the world. There is no room for question, on this point. It is to secure supplies of raw materials that nations desire colonial possessions. Nations which have rich colonial territories are envied by those which have none, and envy is one of the most potent factors in quarrels which lead to war. When world resources of raw materials are reviewed, it is seen that they are scattered in a peculiar manner. Most of the materials are found in large quantities confined to small areas: it is this fact that makes the possession of small territories rich in raw materials of much greater importance than the possession of big expanses deficient in those materials. In some instances these materials arc political, strategic and economic factors of the first importance. This is especially so in regard to oil. rubber, copper and tin, which are the most coveted materials. The most important of them is oil, upon which the world is dependent today. It is the moving principle in industry and warfare, and, as a consequence, territories possessing oil are in a specially favoured position. The United States and Russia are the only countries which may claim to be self-contained in respect of petrol. Britain is dependent upon oil obtained overseas, for though British companies have large interests in most of the great oil concessions throughout the world, the spirit has to be carried overseas. In the case of Persia and Iraq, it comes through a pipeline extending over many hundreds of miles of desert, and then is transported through long sea-lanes which, in time of war, might be blocked. It is to lessen the risk consequent upon overseas supplies being cut off that Britain is devoting attention to the distillation of oil from coal. Britain in 1934 produced 'about 54.500.000 gallons of oil by this process, and imported 2.752.036.000 gallons of benzine and products. This came from America, Iraq, Russia, -.Malaya, Venezuela, the Dutch East Indies, Persia. Mexico. Peru and Rumania. Though the oil was largely ■supplied by British companies, it nevertheless had to . he .brought long distances over the bcean, which is a very different thing from wells within Britain itself. Hence the importance of raw materials being obtainable “on the premises and hence the anxiety of nations which do not possess raw materials to obtain a share from nations which do possess them. Rubber ranks close to oil in importance today.. Two-thirds of the rich rubber-producing areas in South-East Asia and the East Indies (which produce about ninetenths of the world’s total) are British-owned or controlled by British capital. America, supreme in regard to oil, is struggling to be independent of British rubber, just as Britain is struggling to be free of American oil. The same story is told in regard to the other minerals, some nations being lavishly supplied, some povertystricken. Italy may be placed among the latter class: hence her desire for possession of what are believed to be rich mineral fields in Abyssinia, apart altogther from the raw materials in the shape of vegetable growth that that country could supply. “Starving in the midst of plenty” has a wider application than that generally given to the phrase in recent years. For that reason Britain’s -policy, as indicated by Sir -Samuel Hoare, is one which must ■command serious attention