BRITISH TRADE CREDITS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18018, 17 February 1922, Page 4

BRITISH TRADE CREDITS.

There are two distinct provisions in the Trade Facilities Act recently passed by the British Parliament to which reference has been made by Mr. Massey. One enables reliable firms in the Dominions to purchase British goods on credit through the guarantee of the United Kingdom Government. It is not a new device and its general purpose is to stimulate British trade by financing buyors who might otherwise be unable to operate. The other provision, though it aims also at stimulating trade, has a wider significance. It gives the United Kingdom Government power to guarantee tho principal or interest, or both, of loans raised by any Government, public authority or corporation, tho ex penditure of which is calculated to promote employment in the United I Kingdom. As preference will be given to applications from within ' the Empire this is really a practical j illustration of the interest which the I British public is now taking in the j development of the Dominions. The j principle of this Act is likely to I prove of more importance than its application. The total amount which may be guaranteed is £25,000,000, a sum which will be covered by a few largo loans, and it is a condition that tho Act shall apply only to schemes which cannot reasonably be financed without the assistance of the British Government. It is, therefore, premature to assume that New Zealand will secure any advantage from it, either through the Government or local bodies. Tho principle, however, is of first-rate importance. It is but one of several indications which the United Kingdom authorities have given of their anxiety to assist in the development of the Dominions. A cardinal feature of the migration proposals which received the general endorsement of the Imperial Conference is that the British Government will assist in paying passages and in financing emigrants who wish to go on the land. Carrying the principle a little further, the Oversea Settlement Committee has suggested that the United Kingdom should directly finance public works in the Dominions which serve to open up land for immigrants. Mr. Massey is justified in regarding the Trade Facilities Act as in principle an instalment of British preference. It opens up the whole question of the conservation of British capital for the development of the Dominions. This is a consideration which is of very great importance to the future of the Dominion and one the Government might usefully explore.