IMPERIAL PREFERENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18389, 3 May 1923, Page 7

IMPERIAL PREFERENCE.

GOVERNMENT'S POLICY.

MINISTERIAL RETICENCE. QUESTIONER PARRIED. By Telegraph— Association—Copyright. (Received 4.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. LONDON. May 1. Captain Wedgewood Benn (Liberal) asked in the House of Commons whether the Government would concede at the Imperial Conference preferential treatment to the Dominions in the matter of imported foodstuffs. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Stanley Baldwin, replying, said that it was inadvisable to anticipate the discussion on this subject. Captain Wedgewood Benn: "Does that mean that this House will not be allowed to form or shape the policy to bo presented to the conference by our representatives ?" Mr. Baldwin: "I think we must wait and see what it will be proper for us to consider." Captain Wedgewood Benn: "Does that mean that the House will be only presented .with the decisions reached without being asked what its views are ? Mr. Baldwin: "It is difficult to discuss in the House of Commons a subject which on© dees not know will be raised or not." OUTSPOKEN ADVOCATE. MR. AMERY'S VIEWS. A. and N.Z. LONDON, May 1. Lieut.-Colonel L. C. M. S. Amery, First Lord of the Admiralty, in an article in the Empire Review on Empire settlement and development, says that the real, indeed the obvious, solution of the problem lies in the . whole-hearted, acceptance by each part of the Empire of the principle of Imperial preference. By it local and Imperial interests can in every case be safeguarded and mutually harmonised. Colonel Amery explains that by wholehearted preference he means something more than the present tentative and partial preferences. An all-round 50 per cent, preference, which would give the Empire producer an advantage over the foreigner equal to the advantage enjoyed over him by the home producer, probably represents the best practical policy to aim at. Wherever taxation or legislation can give a bias in favour of Empire trade or development over foreign trade, that bias should be given. Preference could be given by remitting stamp duties on transfers, while the serious barrier ;to finance movements by exchange fluctuations might be removed by the creation of a uniform currency system.