OPENING SESSION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22540, 3 October 1936, Page 15

OPENING SESSION

MESSAGE FROM KING ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT THE MONETARY SITUATION [BY TELEGRAPH—PHESS ASSOCIATION] WELLINGTON, Friday 'J lie Empire Commerce Congress was J officially opened to-day by the Goverj nor-General, Viscount Galway, in the | I own Hall concert chamber. j; Lord Galway said that, having - | perused the remits, lie realised some f i of the questions were the most iinport- < : ant matters the congress had ever had . ■ to consider. | His Excellency read the following < j message from His Majesty the King, ij who is patron of the congress:— I send the fourteenth congress of the Chambers of Commerce of I the British Empire, which meets ■ j in Wellington to-day, my best ! wishes for a successful congress, , ■ 'ind feel sure that your discussions , | will help to promote the trade and commerce of the Empire. Devotion to the Throne , J lie president of the congress, 1 \ iseount Klibank. subsequently sent the following message to the King:— '"Delegates to the 14th congress of I the Chambers of Commerce of the British Ftnpire. hailing from Great Britain, | Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South | Africa, the Irish Free State, India and the colonies, assembled in New • Zealand for the first time in 50 years' i history of the congress, request me to thank tour Majesty for the gracious message conveyed by the GovernorI General. They respectfully tender to ; Your Majesty, patron of the congress, their loyal and dutiful greetings, to reiterate their devotion to tho Thronn ! and to express their sincere and confi- | dent hope that Your Majesty's reign will be long, peaceful and prosperous, j "Ihoy trust that their deliberations I I will result in the formulation of proj posals which will bring about a fur- I | flier and speedv expansion of interImperial economic relations, and will j thus contribute toward the solidarity of i the British Empire." Devaluation of Franc Interesting comment on tho inter- | national monetary situation was made by Viscount Elibank in his presidential address at the opening of the congress. He said: "Within the past few ! days there has been a very important ] incident. A great ameliorating change has occurred by the devaluation of tho : I' rench franc, which is being followed by : | the devaluation of their currencies b.v ! Switzerland and Holland and other i I countries still oiv the gold standard. ! ' This creates an entirely different situa- j tion and presents a real hope for the | i international stabilisation of exchanges. ! j for which the world has long been j yearning. "At tlie same time, we within the j ! Empire have our special interests to j ! safeguard, in vie.v of our trade agree- j , ments and other measures which we : I have taken for Empire trade consoli- | dation. We also presume that other j ' colony-owning nations will make ar- j rangements to meet their conditions, j Consequently I cordially welcome the I paragraph contained in the declaration j of British policy issued by the Lon- j don Treasury, in which the British j Government says that of course in its policy toward international monetary j relations there must be taken fully j into account the requirements of tlie ; internal prosperity of Empire conn- j tries, as corresponding considerations j will be taken into account by the! French and American Governments. Responsibility on Empire "There is, I am sure, no delegate j to this congress who does not warmly ; endorse that statement. We are liv- j ing in unsettled, not to say danger- j oil's, times. The war to end war ter- | minated in 1918, yet almost ever since j war clouds have hung on the hori- j Z on. Many nations are looking to the j British Empire for leadership and we j must have the courage to recognise | that new world conditions ha\o aiisen j and that because certain methods served well in the past it by no means follows that they will serve in the future. A great responsibility rests upon the British Empire. May we, as ; representatives of the commercial coin- ; munities of the Empire, in our de- | liberations and actions, be worthy ol | our trust." THREE MORE DELEGATES ARRIVAL BY MARIPOSA Three more delegates to the 14th Congress of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire, now being held at Wellington, arrived at Auckland by the Mariposa i vesterdav. Two of them represent : British chambers of commerce, and the other comes from Montreal. Mr. C. G. Gibson, who is Ml. tor Pudsev and Otley, in the West Yorkshire riding, is a delegate from the Leeds Chamber of Commerce, of which he is a vice-president. He is also deputy-president and president-elect of tlie Association of British Chambers of Commerce. In 102-1 -2o lie \wis Jjoici •Mayor of uiitl, go\ciniiij£ director of the leather firm of S. Gibson and Sons. Limited, Leeds, lie holds various prominent positions on industrial associations. Mr. Gibson felt tor I Wellington last evening. He will leave ; Auckland on October u() for Australia. I and will subsequently visit South Africa .<■ before returning to England. i Mr. L. H. Bcnthall is a delegate ( from the London Chamber of Commerce. He is the proprictoi of laige f general 'stores at Kingston-on-Thames, I London, and intends to make a point I of studviug trade conditions while in \ New Zeahuid. He left Auckland for i Wellington, via Botorua, yesterday, and I will leave for Australia from Welling- t ton on October 28. The third delegate who arrived was Mr. G. H . Townsend, representing the Montreal Chamber of Commerce. He also left for Botorua 011 his way to Wellington yesterday.