IMPERIAL PREFERENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17151, 3 May 1919, Page 9

IMPERIAL PREFERENCE.

■ I FOOD TAXATION ISSUE. HO NEW IMPOSTS INTENDED. POLICY OF GOVERNMENT. Australian »nd N.Z. Cable Association. (Bwd. 5.45 pjn.) LONDON, May 1.

Mr. Donald Mac Lean, resuming the debate on the Budget in the House of Commons, said the great spending departments, which were spreading devastation throughout the country, must bo curbed. Mr. Joseph Chamberlain had said complete Imperial preference would inevitably entail taxes on food.

Mr. Austen Chamberlain, Chancellor of the Exchequer, interposed that the Government did not intend to impose new food taxes. Mr. Mac Lean, continuing, said a great trade with the Dominions could not be developed without grafting preference on corn, meat, and wool. He regretted that he must fight the proposal. Captain L. C. M. S. Amery, Under-Secretary for the Colonies, defended the Government's proposal. This was not a direct issue between free trade and protection. It was a question whether we regarded the Empire as a unit or whether we were willing to help to promote intercourse, understanding, and development, thus strengthening the great Dominions. It was a worthy policy to carry out irrespective of old party divisions. We were entering on a new period in the Empire's history, and ought to deal with industrial, social, and economic problems in a new spirit aiming at wider unity.