CENSURE MOTION LOST.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20619, 18 July 1930, Page 11

CENSURE MOTION LOST.

DEBATE IN COMMONS. * - v LABOUR AND THE EMPIRE. FOOD TAXES RESISTED. CONSERVATIVES' DISAPPROVAL. Hy Tclegnipli—Presa Association—Copyright. (Hcccived July 17. 7.45 p.m.) ; LONDON, July 16. I The Lender of the Opposition, Mr. - Baldwin, moved a vole of censure on tlio ' Government in the House of Commons I his evening. The motion was to tlio effect that, believing a return to prosperity could J only ho promoted by safeguarding the ; home markets against unfair competition . and hy expanding the export markets by ' reciprocal trade agreements with the Empire overseas, the House regretted . that the Government had reversed the policy of safeguarding instead of extendin;; it and had arbitrarily excluded from consideration the imposition of duties on ' foreign foodstuffs devised to obtain equivalent advantages for British manufactures and agriculture in British mar--1 kets and elsewhere. Mr. Baldwin invited the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Snowden, to state the policy the Government intended to follow at the Imperial Conference. Labour Will Not Co-operate. In replying, Mr. Snowden said the Government would he no parly to food taxes or taxes on raw material or protective duties. It would enter the Imperial Conference barring no questions from discus- ! sion, but it. would lie made abundantly clear that it would approve no final conclusion which involved Britain in a food taxation policy or a general protectionist policy. Outside that, there were plenty of questions of great importance which tho Imperial Conference could discuss. Tn regard to safeguarding the Opposition could not point to any marked effect which the duties had had in any of the safeguarded industries in improving the position for trade. Mr. Snowden said there could bo no question of cooperation with the Con servafives on the basis of the Laboui Party's sacrificing its principles. Lloyd George Twits Baldwin. The Leader of the Liberals, Mr. Lloyd ! George, supported tho attitude taken up by the Government. In the. course of his remarks he said Mr. Baldwin's censure motion was the most inexplicable be bad ever heard. Mr. Baldwin was condemning the Government for repudiating food taxes which he had himself repudiated only a few weeks ago. Mr. Baldwin had been on a sliding staircase, said Mr. George. He had not moved, but had been moved—in fact he had been pushed about rather badly by his own followers. Unemployment was too grave to be used merely for party manoeuvres. Rejection of the Motion. Sir Oswald Mosley, Labour member for Smethwick, said: —What we want, and what tlio Dominions want, is a hard, concrete policy which will meet agricultural and industrial needs. Wherever you turn —from the report of tho Trades Union Congress to the memorandum of the bankers—vou find a growing consensus of opinion that it is desirable to insulate this country from the shocks of world conditions. Tho Prime Minister, Mr. MarDonnld, recalled Mr. Baldwin's speech at Drury Lane Theatre in April, 1929, in which he pledged the. Conservatives not to impose food taxes. If Mr. Baldwin was not going to violate that pledge what was the difference between them'.' Not a single Dominion could give Britain substantial preference on manufactured articles in relation to industries which they themselves were establishing behind tariff walls in return for advantages for food imports. At the Imperial Conference the Government would take up tho position in regard to lood taxes which every party took up when asking for voles at the last general eleel ion. The motion was defeated by 3.12 votes to 241. The 11port of the Trades Union Congress referred to hy Sir Oswald Mosley w as issued by its Economic Committee on May 27 and contained the following commendations:--'J hat at the forthcoming Imperial Conference it would be in the interests of the trades union movement tor the Socialist Party to press for as full a development as possible of the economic relations between ourselves and the Dominions, urging the creation of machinery; j and, it necessary, agreements with tho Dominions tor the further development of inter-Commonwealth trade and for the best possible distribution of economic activities within tho British Commonwealth. (2) That the present policy of isolation seems no longer practicable. ;3) That Britain could not belong to a European group, such as advocated by M. Briarid, or an Anglo-American group while, maintaining her place in tho British Kmpire group. (4) That there are ties of sentiment that count iri the British group and that supplies of raw materials and of manufactured goods could- be balanced. (5) lhat it is quite practicable to press for the development of tho. British Em pile as a self-contained unit of free nations, while working for an extension of the influence of the l.eaguo of Nations and striving for an Anglo-American economic agreement. (6) That wo should bargain as a Commonwealth group and that in many cases this would be a decided advantage. (7) That the factors of geographical separation between different parts of the Empire are now much less serious owing to the great development in communications and transport. (81 That tho sheer logic of events may be driving tho nations to a comprehensive international agreement, but if the i events of the recent years are any indication, this will take a very long timo to accomplish. ' (9) That it would indeed seem that the formation of more limited groups such as , the British Commonwealth of Nations is a necessary step toward ultimate world 1 economic unity. 1 .