EMPIRE AFFAIRS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18990, 11 October 1923, Page 7

EMPIRE AFFAIRS

IMPERIAL CONFERENCE. PROBLEMS TO BE FACED. SPEECH BY MR BRUCE. PRACTICAL RESULTS DESIRED. frees Association —By ’’’©locroph Copyrijlit LONDON, October 9. Sir Joseph Cook presided at the Australian and New Zealand Club’s luncheon to Mr Bruce at the Hotel Cecil. Two hundred and fifty persons were present, including Mr Massey and the AgentsGcncral. Mr Bruce expressed his pleasure (it meeting representative business men of Australia and New Zealand in London. Ho said that he himself had come out of the ranks of business men, and doubtless the day would come when he would go back to them; but he would do so with no appalling regrets. The Imperial Conference had great problems to solve. Ho said there was no hope of solving any of them unless we first solved groat jiroblems which faced the Economic Confercnce. If wo could not do the predominant position which the Empire occupied in the world would be impcrilled. Mr Bruce declared that the outcome must be practical. They had had enough of mere pious resolutions of the past. The task now was to put them into practice. It was one that came to us from the war. Thousands of our young men gave their lives because they believed in the Empire. Wo must see that their sacrifice was not in vain. He had that morning covered Australia’s economic position before the conference. We had to consider the problems with mi unprejudiced mind. He recognised that many politicians —or statesmen, as they sometimes called themselves—were in a very embarrassed position when dealing with business matters, because business men took the view that politicians had no knowledge of such subjects. If they looked at the other great commercial nations of the world they would see that these were not hesitating to make changes in their systems. Mr Bruce said he was confident that we would have to make some changes in our ideas. He believed that we should now concentrate on the development of the Empire’s resources, and find markets for our produce. There had been much talk of migrating people and developing resources, but a great deal of it had been merely talking in platitudes, and few of the politicians had given serious thought to what we had to do. The greatest of all problems was in finding markets for our produce. That, he said, was the tenor of his remarks, before that morning’s sitting of the Economic Conference. He appealed to business men, after they had formed opinions on the subject, to become apostles and carry out the proposals. The Hon. W. R. Warren (Newfoundland), in proposing the toast of the chairman, paid a tribute to his old friend, the late Sir Walter Davidson, Governor of New South Wales.—A. and N.Z. Cable. COMMENTS ON THE SPEECH. TARIFF 1 ISSUES DISCUSSED. LONDON, October 10. (Received Oct. 10, at 9.30 p.m.) Mr Bruce’s speech is given great prominence in all the morning papers. It occupies six columns in the Morning Post and four in the Daily Telegraph. The length and importance of the utterance and the far-reaching nature of the proposals have apparently taken the newspapers by surprise. Some of the papers withhold comment regarding either Mr Brace’s or the Home Government’s proposals, notably the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Chronicle, and the Daily Express. The Morning Post deals only with the British proposals. It says : “ Tney do not go far enough. Unless the proposals are part of a much bigger programme they will not satisfy opinion either here or in the Empire as a whole. They are too timid a beginning of the new policy in which our politicians wall be forced by circumstances and opinion to go a great deal further.” The Westminster Gazette says: "Mr Bruce disclaims any desire to over-per-suade Britishers to change their tariff policy against their wishes and interests, but all his alternative suggestions would have the same effect and would raise the price of food in this country. Mr Bruce brings us at the very outset of the conference up against the fundamental difficulties of all Imperial preference schemes, but the large and important preferences which we can usefully offer would involve an increase in the cost of living and a consequent inci’ease in the cost of our ow manufactures, which would handicap us as a great exporting nation. The Government’s proposals are a very pale ghost oi the scheme which Dir Bruce outlined, in some cases they are innocuous. In others they seem to threaten either to increase the prices of the commodities concerned or to create a vested interest in duties which we are anxious to see reduced towards vanishing point.” The Daily Herald says: ‘‘The Baldwin Government is a protectionist and preferentialist Government. That was made plain bv Sir Philip Lloyd-Greame.”—A. and N.Z. Cable. CONFERENCE DISCUSSIONS. NEED FOR EMPIRE MARKETS. LEAGUE OF NATIONS ISSUE. LONDON, October 9. At the Imperial Conference. Mr Bruce, in a speech on the general situation affecting the dominions, said that the keynote was the need of markets within the Empire for dominion products and reciprocal markets for British manufactures. A discussion on overseas settlement followed. On Thursday Lord Robert Cecil will initiate a debate, on the position of the League of Nations in the affairs of Europe.—Reuter. PUBLICITY PROBLEM. VISITING DELEGATES DISSATISFIED. LONDON, October 9. The Daily Telegraph’s diplomatic correspondent says; “It is understood that the dominion Prime Ministers have only consented to withhold the publication of their speeches for a few days pending Lord Curzon’s reply. A general agreement regarding publicity will be arrived at or the dominions’ delegates will use their own discretion in the matter. They Parliaments and people with them they must be able to furnish a frank and reasoned account of the situation. Only on such a basis will it be possible for the Empire to act promptly and with that unanimity and vigour which is the desire of the delegations from the dominions.’’ —A. and N.Z. Cable.

BRITISH MINISTERS. A DISAGREEMENT DENIED. LONDON, October 9. (Received Oct. 10, at 7.30 p.m.) The Central Nows Agency, referring to reports of a disagreement between Mr Baldwin and Lord Curzon in regard to foreign affairs, says it is authoritatively informed that Lord Curzon submitted a draft of Friday’s speech at the Imperial Conference to Mr Baldwin before its delivery, and that Mr Baldwin approved of its contents. —A. and N.Z. Cable. PUBLICATION OF SPEECHES. LONDON, October 10. (Received Oct. 10, at 9.30 p.m.) The Morning Post’s political correspondent understands that extracts from the speeches of dominion members on foreign affairs will be communicated to the press before the end of the week.—A. and N.Z. Cable. EMPIRE FRUIT PRODUCTS. FREEDOM FROM DUTY. AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT. LONDON, October 9. (Received Oct. 10, at 7.30 p.m.) The Government proposes to wipe out all duties on dominion products ou which preferences now exist. Much gratification is expressed in dominion circles at Sir Philip Lloyd Grcame’s announcement at the Economic Conference that the Imperial Government was prepared to allow all fruits, currants, and canned fruits to enter the country free, while maintaining the duties of 10s (id, 2s, and 5s respectively on foreign products. The acceptance by the Imperial Government of the principle that those Em-pire-grown products should bo admitted duty free is regarded as being of firstclass significance.—Reuter. LABOUR AND PREFERENCE HOSTILITY TO PROPOSAL. LONDON, October 9, (Received Oct. 10, at 5.5 p.m.) Mr Arthur Henderson, speaking at Accrington, said the Labour movement would bo called upon presently to face the economic issue in the double form of a general scheme for Imperial preference and protection for industries which were suffering from foreign competition. Ho viewed with alarm any development of an economic policy which would tend to divert trade into Imperial channels by an arbitrary interference with the present fiscal system. Efforts ought rather to be directed to the economic restoration of Europe. Our interests lay in an extension of the international freedom of trade. It would take more than one generation to build up intcr-Imperial trade to the point whore it could absorb rdl the dominions' produce and find in the dominions a market for all we manufactured. Imperial preference was therefore a fantastic folly.—A, and N.Z. Cable. STATESMEN OF EMPIRE. NEW CONCRETE PROPOSALS. LONDON, October 10. (Received Oct. 10, at 11.10 p.m.) The Daily Telegraph’s diplomatic correspondent gathers that it will be ‘found impossible to charge the members from the dominions at coming conferences with only destructive criticism. More than one has worked out concrete proposals on this and that aspect of reparations and cognate problems. In particular, there has been presented to the conference from one quarter a comprehensive scheme embodying a new and positive policy to serve as a basis of discussion. This is now under scrutiny by the Home Government and its experts.—A. and N.Z. Cable. THE KING’S INTEREST. DELEGATES INVITED TO PALACE. LONDON, October 8. His Majesty the King gave an audience to Mr'Brnec. The King will entertain the dominion Prime Ministers at Buckingham Palace on Thursday evening.—Reuter,