THE EMPIRE MARKETING BOARD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22063, 20 September 1933, Page 6

THE EMPIRE MARKETING BOARD

The days of the Empire Marketing Board seem to be numbered. Financial provision has been made for the maintenance of its work until the end of the present month only. At the Ottawa Conference the view was expressed that, with the advent of Imperial preference, the ground for the Marketing Board’s continued existence had disappeared, and an Imperial Committee on Economic Consultation and Co-operation was appointed to consider the future destiny of various existing agencies, the Marketing. Board foremost among them. That committee, which included two United Kingdom members out of a total of sixteen, declared in favour of the Board’s dissolution, and effect is apparently to be given to this decision by the withdrawal of the financial support afforded to the Board by the British Government. In signifying its unwillingness to sustain the Empire Marketing Board without assistance after the end of this month, and in indicating its intention of terminating its own indefinite liability to finance this organisation, the British Government left the way open for the dominions to take the initiative, if they saw fit, for its preservation. But no offer has been made by the dominions. • This constrained the Manchester Guardian recently to observe: “ One would have thought that at least one dominion would have made some gesture towards the support of cooperative research into the production, and, equally important, preservation during transport, of staple Empire products,” Unfortunately that attitude seems only too much in keeping with the failure of the dominions to extend to the Marketing Board throughout its existence the measure of support which its usefulness has warranted. The prospect of the Board’s demise is, however, a matter of serious concern, as has been recognised in every reference to the subject in leading British newspapers. The Board was created in 1926, technically as an alternative to Imperial preference, its function being to administer a fund voted by the British Government for the purpose of assisting the Empire’s producers at every stage, helping them to grow and transport their products as well and cheaply as possible, and to dispose of them advantageously in a market well prepared to receive them. A survey of the Board’s activities during the seven years of its existence offers a wealth of evidence as to their value. If it had done nothing more than persuade people to buy Empire products its achievement would have been important. Its publicity campaign in this connection, through which it is best known to the average person in .the United Kingdom, has certainly been far-reaching and effective. But the Board has been doing much more important work than this. Consultation . and co-operation are important Empire processes, and the Marketing Board has been a most valuable agency for the furtherance of them. In almost every dominion it has been supporting or initiating research on questions sometimes affecting primarily the country concerned, but more often the Empire as a whole, while in the field of the Colonial Empire, with its great possibilities for development and production, it has rendered much-needed service in the promotion of scientific investigation. There can be little doubt that the expenditure which the Board’s operations have entailed has represented an extraordinarily good investment for the Empire’s benefit. The expectation of an annual outlay of £1,000,000 has never been realised. For reasons of economy the grant for 1932-33 was reduced to £300,000, but as most of this goes, it has been pointed out, to scientific institutions that will have to be supported in any case, there will be little saving, when the Board goes out of existence, beyond the £60,000 spent on publicity and the salaries of officials. The dominion Ministers who attended the World Economic Conference were reminded of the position as regards the Board. The Spectator outspokenly said: “If Imperial co-operation means anything the case for the continuance and extension of such work is unanswerable, and it is incredible that the dominion Ministers with whom the final decision lies should not see that. They are directly concerned, for if the Board is preserved, as it should be, the relatively small expense involved must be shared equitably between the different parts of the Empire. The special reasons why for a time Great Britain bore the whole burden no longer exist.”