EMPIRE ECONOMIC UNITY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21212, 18 December 1930, Page 15

EMPIRE ECONOMIC UNITY.

NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTERS ATTITUDE. SPONTANEOUS ACTION NEEDED. (Fboh Odb Own Correspondent/) n a f u October *!• On October 2fl the oversea delegates to the Imperial Conference were. the guests at luncheon of the Empire Economic Unity Groups of the House of Lords and House of Commons. The luncheon ws* given in the Harcourt Room, with Bit Henry Page Croft, M.P.. in the chair. Indisposition prevented Lord Melchett, president of the union, from, attending, but he sent a letter in which he wrote:— The dominion Premiers have made it abundantly clear, as all of ns who knhw the _ Empire are .well aware, that in a period of great world depression there is one method certain and absolute of providing prosperity and of securing the future of the British race, and thatls the closer fiscal co-operation of vaious parte of the British Empire. "Let us abandon the bogey of duties on foreign food. Let us cease to be frightened by vague terrors of higher prices. The purchasing power > of an individual depends not on the price of commodities, but on the capacity to purchase commodities.” Sir Henry Page Croft said he agreed with Lord Melchett that fear had been created by the bogey of dear food, which had never been justified.—(Cheers.) He read a resolution of the Empire Economic Unity Groups, which was passed after their formation, recognising that an effective trade agreement for the purpose of solving the economic problems confronting British industry and agriculture, and providing markets for the products of the Empire oversea, must include security for Empire-grown produce. The resolution placed on record the opinion that this security could be effectively given by a mutual policy of preference, and, further, that it it was agreed between the Home Government and the dominions that a secure market for, foreign wheat could best be obtained by allotting a quota of British-grown and Empire wheat forborne consumption, it regarded this policy as a practical alternative. Sir Henry said that if they could be certain we could provide the whole of our requirements under the flag they were determined to place a duty on foreign foodstuffs. They had been deply moved, he added, by the ringing message which came from Mr Bennett and which had been supported so wholeheartedly by his colleagues in the Imperial Conference. They in the groups were determined to spend their energies and time, and give everything they could to promoting a great ideal. MR FORBES’S FRANK STATEMENT. “We are not. here in a bargaining spirit. What we have done we have done voluntarily and whatever is done for the dominions must .be done by the people of this country, otherwise it is going to cause more friction than anything else. “We are very much interested in the prosperity of this country. I would like, above all things, for you to be able to do something which would set yoUr wheels moving again, but I am not going into the question of your fiscal policy. That is a question entirely for yourselves. You know your own circumstances best. But I would say this: Whatever is done in regard to the economic question, unless it is done as a spontaneous act on the part of this country, it will be of no benefit whatever to the. Empire.”