THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY. JULY 11, 1929. BUSINESS UNDER THE FLAG.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20304, 11 July 1929, Page 10

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS THURSDAY. JULY 11, 1929. BUSINESS UNDER THE FLAG.

Much interest attaches to the news, meagre though it is, of a proposal to hold a conference of commercial men representative of the Empire. Although no official communication has been sent, apparently, to any of the Dominions yet concerning the idea, a fairly definite announcement has been made by the British Government that such a conference will shortly be called. Specific confirmation of Mr. Snowden's statement to this effect will be welcomed, it may be said with confidence, in all the Dominions. Something different from the Imperial Economic Conference of 1923 is seemingly intended. That conference was mainly official in character. Most of its members were delegates of Governments, arid those associated with them as "business advisers" were virtually possessed of political status for the time being. New Zealand, .'or instance, was represented bv the Prime Minister and the High Commissioner. In what is now proposed, while it is possible that Governments will be asked to cooperate in making arrangements, and even be represented by some departmental experts, the personnel would be characteristically nonofficial. In this difference resides a very promising possibility of frank and practical interchange of experience and opinion. After all, the business that is done under the flag, in importing and exporting, is done not by Governments but by those who buy and sell. The communications between Governments, vital and valuable as thev are, rest in a large measure on private trade, and a good deal is to be said for firsthand discussion, by those most intimately concerned, in place of secondhand memoranda, marked by a statistical and legal approach, which may very well obscure as much as they enlighten.

What was tried in 1923 was excellent in its way, and no one will doubt that much good was accomplished. A vast amount of information was collated. Many resolutions of very practical intent were passed and given effect. From time to time a conference of this kind should be convened, and it might with advantage meet occasionally in some political centre overseas. Indeed, a proposal to this end was favourably received when made some years ago. Nevertheless, a glance at the agenda of that conference reveals how largely—and inevitably, it may be added, having in mind the official character of the delegates—it was devoted to matters that had political bearing. Obsessed with the notion—true enough, of coursethat the Empire was potentially a great economic unit, the delegates were obviously bent on encouraging research and reducing legal obstacles to commerce within the Imperial bounds. Mr. Snowden's latest statement in the House of Commons indicates that another conference of this official kind is also in view. What is known to be the Government's attitude to safeguarding, and what he has himself said about the McKenna duties, very pertinently suggest that the mind of the Dominions ought to be given opportunity of expression in some such formal way. But consultation on these things in this way is not sufficient. Together with it, and yet in a separate forum, where much free and non-committal speech would be possible, there should be a ventilation of the practical aspects of Imperial trade with which commercial men have direct knowledge by daily handling of them. The idea earlier voiced by Mr. Snowden ought, therefore, to be pursued as complementary to that of another Imperial Economic Conference officially constituted and composed. It is not so novel as it may appear. From time to time there have assembled, in various parts of the Empire, representative groups of men with common interests by virtue of their professional occupations—parliamentarians and pressmen, for example—and there have been tours abroad of business men in small groups bent on particular missions of inquiry. These have all served to foster co-operation to some extent, as well as to widen the knowledge of the men who have travelled and those with whom they have been in consultation. What they have done suggests that a thoroughly representative body of those engaged in commerce could be gathered in order to interchange ideas. Sir Kobert Home lias optimistically spoken of the emergence of new ideas that would surely result. His point is well taken. It •is in line with experience. There can be little doubt that trade under the flag owes more to the venture* some efforts of pi-ivato enterprise than to official action, however wellconsidered and wise., .Commercially,

viewed, it is not the Empire that lias made trade but trade that has made the Empire. There is much more in Imperial development, of course, than its commercial activity; yet,' when attention is focussed on that, it will be found that, whatever truth there is in the dictum that trade follows the flag, there is more historic truth in the converse way of putting things. From this lesson of the past there arises the working certainty that anything now done to promote mutual understanding and increasing co operation in trade will strengthen the bond of Empire. In a fully representative conference of British business men it should be possible to propound new ways in which the British people throughout the world may realise their unity, and statesmen be thus given an invaluable lead in their task of political governance.