NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19486, 16 November 1926, Page 12

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

THE DOMINIONS' TARIFFS. The Manchester Association of Importers and Exporters recently forwarded to the President ol the Bo4rd of Trade, the Colonial Secretary and the Secretary for India a memorandum on the subject of the development of inter-Imperial trade. Discussing its views, the Times Trade Supplement says the association declared that as long as the Dominions continue their policy of enforcing prohibitive duties for the purpose of protecting their own home industries, Britain's purchasing power is correspondingly weakened and the volume of imports of Dominion produce into the United Kingdom is automatically curtailed, while any benefit the preference might be designed to promote is practically frustrated. This passage certainly does less than justice to the Dominion point of view. It ignores the fact that the Dominions have other customers for their goods besides the United Kingdom, and also have Other sources of supply for manufactured articles. The trade returns" show that the tariffs of the Dominions are not prohibitive; they are designed to serve the dual purpose of raising revenue and protecting home indnstries, while the object of the preference is to give British manufacturers an advantage over foreign. MARKETS FOR MANUFACTURES. "It is all very well to say that if other nations will not buy our coal and manufactures wo shall not be able to take their raw materials and food, but the converse of this statement, which is equally true, is. rather more to the point," the Times remarks. "It is that if we are unable to sell our coal and manufactures we shall be unable to import the food and raw material that are essential to our existence. The tion -that in this matter Great Britain occupies the stronger position is not justified by the facts. Primary products are always in dsmand and can always be exchanged for manufactures, but the manufacturer may at any time find it impossible to sell at a profit, and in that case he cannot carry on. The difficulty before this country is to find markets for its manufactures. Only so long as it can create credits abroad by exports can it continue to import food and raw materials which are vital to its existence, and that is the reason why the policy of this country should be directed toward the development of prosperity in the Empire oversea, where, in spite of protective tariffs, there is an increasing market for British goods," THE GERMAN GIANT. " Germany is a giant bound with a considerable amount of rope, it is true, but a giant all the same, and a giant whose ropes everyone realises will some day loosen. When that day comes, what will happen ? one asks. What is the present state of mind of this colossus ? Has Germany axperienced any marked change of heart since 1918 ? Has there been a softening of the old martial spirit?" asks Mr. Edwin Hullinger, in the New York Outlook. He describes the popular attitude toward the United States, saying that in Germany, America is more beloved than in the countries she helped to victory But his outstanding impression is " the overwhelming, stubborn hatred for France. This hatred has been the most unchangeable feature of post-war Germany as I have observed it during my four visits since the Armistice (in 1919, 1921, 1922, and finally 1926)," says Mr. Hullinger. "It has survived all varying shifts of fortune and all internal political upheavals. The feeling toward England is still present to an extent, but it has begun to go. But the yearning for revenge upon France burns on in the hearts of the people, irrespective ol any effort from the Government, and seemingly heedless of the recent change in France's policy toward Germany. The only international parallel of recent years is the similar phenomenon in France following the Franco-Prussian \Var. . , . Whatever the German Foreign Office may occasionally say about European reconciliation; the German people are yearning for revenge—not on England, noj even on Italy—upon France alone. .Underneath the surface, in North : Germany, Prussia and South Germany, the spirit of revenge burns to-day, I - found, as fiercely, if not more fiercely, ! than ever. It constitutes a great human force that roust be taken very seriously i into accouut in any calculation of the j future."