ISSUES AT OTTAWA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21240, 21 July 1932, Page 6

ISSUES AT OTTAWA

MOMENTOUS CONFERENCE [OFFICAL OPENING TO-DAY VITAL ECONOMIC PROBLEMS The hopes of the Empire are fixed on the Economic Conference which will open at Ottawa to-day. The results achieved there may mark one of the most important turning-points in the Empire's history. Certainly no Imperial Conference has ever met at a moment more psychologically appropriate. "Viewed historically, the gathering at Ottawa is important because it will be th© first Imperial Conference ever held outside Great Britain. Over 100 years ago Canning declared that he had called the New World into being to redress the balance of the Old. It is, then, not without significance that a city in that New World 'should be the venue of the conference opening to-day. The choice of Ottawa emphasises the doctrine of equal partnership, which is the source of the Empire's -real strength. It may also stress the advisability of discarding such principles as have outlived their usefulness and attacking to-day's vital problems .with methods more suited to the times.

Nevertheless, the greates't hope for the Euccess of the conference springs from a significant event which occurred recently in Great Britain herself. For 30 years, at conference after conference, the Mother Country clung to her traditional free trade policy. But on March 1 last the Rubicon was crossed. The old policy was abandoned and there came into force the Import Duties Act, which granted a general preference on the products of th© Dominion for six months. That period, it is hoped, will be extended permanently in the light of the decisions made at Ottawa. Basis o! Equality /Thus for the first time the partners of Empire are in a position to meet on a common basis in an endeavour to stimulate inter-Empiie trade by arrangements / which will increase the fundamental' economic strength and well-being of the Empire countries. And on the results of the labours at Ottawa will depend largely the future commercial prosperity of the self-governing countries there represented. It is impossible yet to predict success or failure at Ottawa. If the conference atmosphere is charged with the element of selfish bargaining, success will be impossibly. Happily, the necessity for mutual helpfulness has been fully recognised. by the official delegates, according to the tenor of their reviews of the prospects. . The mantle of secrecy has cloaked the preparation of the various cases to be presented at the conference. That precaution was deemed advisable to prevent the possibility of preliminary bargaining, which might react to the detriment of other Empire units. Thus, until the conference is fairly into its stride, it is not possible to analyse the prospect of mutual agreement with any degree of certainty. Delegates and Advisers Quick reconciliation of divergent views !s not to be expected, but, once the appropriate committees have been set up, there should be no delay in grappling with the principles of the main problems. The official delegates number about 30. They come from Great Britain, Ihe Irish (Free State, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Newfoundland and Southern Rhodesia. Each official delegation is accompanied by a _ staff of e:cpert advisers, so that those with business directly connected with the conference number over 200. Merchants of spices and cotton from India will rub shoulders with pastoralists from Australia, agriculturists from New Zealand, tea-planters from Ceylon, manufacturers from England. Certainly the conference, representative of countries occupying at least one-fourth of the globe, will not lack colour.

According to the provisional agenda, the main deliberations will revolve round two subjects, trade and tariff policies and monetary and financial questions. Howover, according to a recent cablegram from Ottawa, the belief is growing that consideration of the currency problem will be secondary to the other leading problem, and there is likely to be insufficient time for a protracted discussion on currency. • Imperial Preference On th© question of Imperial preference, to article in a recent issue of the Eonomist stated, inter alia: "The Empire has a great opportunity of setting an example of mutual concession and farsightedness. We have here an opportunity of showing to the world that there are some countries, at all events, which appreciate the truth that countries must buy freely if they wish to sell freely, and that a wise seller will try to promote the prosperity of his customers." No unrestrained hopes have been expressed by responsible leaders in discussing Ottawa prospects. It is realised that the making of satisfactory agreements for the exchange of preferences will be fraught with many complications, particularly in view of the desire of the Dominions to maintain their own manufacturing industries. Qualified optimism appears to be the spirit -in which the delegates will assemble at the conference table. An indication of the magnitude of tho preference problem and some of the difficulties to be overcome in its solution is given in a concluding sentence from tho Economist article, which says:—"Thero is a very real danger that in their ardour for Imperial preference for its own sake, and their determination to bring back some spoils from Ottawa, the British delegates may be led to impose fresh and serious restrictions upon our own trade, either without any returns from tho Dominions or in exchange for a still further enhancement of tho latter's duties on foreign goods—a step which would still further put oat of balance the productive forces of the world and make tho present confusion of world trade worse confounded " Gesture to the World The deliberations at Ottawa will awaken wider' than Empire interest. The problems "to' be attacked at Ottawa are, in essence, world-wide in their incidence, and the hope has been expressed in many quarters that the conference will enable the Empire to make a practical gesture which will give a-heartening lead to the whole world in sane, reconstructive effort. The settlement of the reparations problem, at Lausanne recently strengthens the propitious circumstances undijr which tho Ottawa conferenco will open. Ottawa, it is to be supposed, will be a beginn-ng and not in itself an end. But if the foundations for closer commercial and sentimental union can be laid there the conference will have* realised the aspirations of the most optimistic. Within the precincts of the dignified buildings which are the home of Canada's J'arl'ament tho delegates assembling today may reflect that never have they put their hands to a task fraught with greater consequences for good or ill. Ottawa, as Mr. Stanley Baldwin said recently in the House of Commons, means the parting of the ways; there must be a closer fiscal unidn or a drifting apart. The barometer of confidence is rising, and all who love the Emp're will hope fervently for a further brightening of the sines as an outcome of the decisions made at the momentous conference to be opened by the Earl of Bessborough to-day.