EMPIRE TRADE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20793, 12 August 1929, Page 2

EMPIRE TRADE.

FEDERAHON OF CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE. SIR JAMES PARR’S APPEAL. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, June 28.

Sir James Parr waa lie principal gueet at the luncheon which preceded the annual meeting of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire. The High Commissioner made one of the most forceabie of his appeals for Empire trade, and quoted figures which should be known but are so easily forgotten. The Earl of Iveagh, president of the federation, presided, and others at the top table were:—Lord Passfield (Secretary for Dominion Affaire and the Colonies), Earl of Inchcape, Viscount Elibank, Sir Arthur Shirley Benn (chairman of the council of the federation). Lord Kylsant, Lord Herbert Scott (president, London Chamber of Commerce), Sir Edward Davson, Sir George Foster, Sir Arthur Hirtzel, Sir Herbert Gibson, Sir Halford Mackinder, Sir Joseph Byrne (Governor of Sierra Leone),. Sir Stanley Macfain, Sir Atul Chatterjee (High Commissioner for India), Sir Ronald Storrs (Governor of Cyprus), Sir Edward T. F. Crowe, Sir Murchison Fletcher (Governor-elect of Fiji), Mr J. W. Dulanty (Trade Commissioner for the Irish Free State), and Sir Edward Harding.

Lord Iveagh, before proposing the toast of “ Our Guests,” paid a tribute to the work of Lord Kylsant his predecessor in office 1 . The twelfth congress, be said, would take place nest year in London. “Judging by the past,” he added, “we anticipate a representative attendance from all over the Empire, and, with Mr Bruce’s statesmanlike appeal before us for the co-operation o, business men in the welding of the Empire into an economic unit, we shall, I trust, not fail to take full 1 advantage of the occasion.” As usual, Sir Janies Parr's speech was tactful, amusing, and forceful. He began by mentioning that New Zealanders bought £l3 5b worth of British goods per .:ad of population. He compared this figure with that of foreign countries. Australia and New Zealand between them bought from Great Britain more than Belgium, Spain, Prance. Italy, Denmark, and Holland with their 110,000.000 people. New Zealand, with its 1,500,000 people, was buying more from Great Britain than was Russia with its 150,000,000 people in its prosperous days before the war. “By all means, trade with the foreigner,” said Sir James, "but please do not forget that the dominions • and colonies, /and India, buy 47 per cent, of the total exported from this country. Facts and figures prove that the soundest business is to be done ' with onr own kith and kin.” MINISTER FOE DOMINION AFFAIRS. The High Commissioner went on to congratulate Lord Passfield (Mr Sidney Webb) on his appointment to w;hat he (Sir James Parr) sincerely believed to be the most important office in the Cabinet. On the occupant’of that office depended the continuance of goodwill and friendship between the overseas dominions and the Mother Country. .They'were glad to.see so distinguished a savant as Lord Passfield in that position. Many years ago he (the speaker) studied as a degenerate youth the writings of Lord Passfield, whom he considered to be 1 the greatest Fabian of them all.

I am proud to confess,” he added, “ that I adopted a good many, of his ideas and put them into practical use, bu 4 I did it under the guise of a Tory Minister of Education.—(Laughter.) Now that we have got a great Socialist in the House of Lords, the dominions may ibandon any lurking doubt that might have been in their minds about him and realise ‘that, in .the Secretary for. the Dominions we-shall see before our eyes the principle* of the inevitability of gradUalness.”— (Laughter.) He begged that the new Minister would not be too hard on the Empire Marketing Board, ’ which had received more kicks than halfpence. In New Zealand, and, he thought, in all the dominions, the creation of the board and its conduct of ■ affairs had heed a real contribution to the cause of Imperial trade, and it was well worth the money that was spent os it. Sir James Parr went on to speak of the propaganda of the board, but more especially of , the scientific research work that it bad undertaken.

The High Commissioner spoke of his experiences in the Midlands and North of England, and the splendid fight that had been put up by many of the large employers of labour who had gone on with their business, paying nc dividends, and suffering a certain loss year by year. There were unmistakable signs, however, that - matters were improving, he said, and he ventured the opinion that the time had come when we were definitely on the un-grade. Britain was still the greatest market place of the world. She had the best manufactures in the world, and let us hope that she might some day have the best salesmen in the world. Sir James concluded with a Spirited appeal for a fuller development of the great heritage of the British Empire. • The Hon. Sir George Foster, the veteran statesman of Canada, proposed the toast of the chairman, but he seized the opportunity to “score- a point” off Sir James Parr and New Zealand.

“ Sir James has shown you,” he said, “that the little Dominion of -New Zealand buy? a certain amount per head of its population, and that percentage is a very high one. Are you anxious to increase British trade? Here is the line you should take: Get New Zealand to increase her population. There are great possibilities ahead in that direction.”— (Laughter.)