ECONOMIC CONFERENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20282, 15 December 1927, Page 11

ECONOMIC CONFERENCE

PRECEEDINGS DISCUSSED. DELEGATES MEET IN LONDON. (Presa Association—By Telegraph—Oopyrlgnt ) LONDON, December 14. (Received Dec. 14, at 10 p.m.) Welcoming the delegates to a conference in London at the Guildhall arranged by the League of Nations’ Union for the purpose of discussing the proceedings of th e Economic Conference at Geneva, Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister said it was most important that all the members of the League should carry out the agreements already made. Ratification of past economic con ventions was by no means universal. Effective progress was only possible if the action which the economic organisation of the League undertook represented the will of nations, as well as the willingness of Governments. Mr Theunis, who presided at the Economic v'nnierence, pointed out that while world production was now greater than before the war, such increase was not general. There was a decrease in Europe, against a relatively large increase in North and South America, Australia, and the Far East. Europe was suffering from maladjustment as a consequence of post-war political tendencies, which emphasised nationalism and aimed at self-sufficiency, ignoring interdependence. Mr Philip Snowden said that the United States seemed to b e approaching saturation point in the home market, and was seeking investments for her surplus capital in foreign markets. He expressed the opinion that when America changed from a debtor to a creditor nation the question of high tariffs would become acute, with a consequent influence upon the tariff policy of all other countries. Mr Walter Runciman, a former president of the Board of Trade, said that, failing Freetrade within the Empire, which he feared was not practical politics at present, the best thing would be Freetrade with Europe. The discussion was adjourned. —A. and N.Z. Cable.