MANY SUBJECTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22999, 30 September 1936, Page 7

MANY SUBJECTS

EMPIRE GATHERING COMMERCE CHAMBERS OUTLINE OF REMITS Friday will mark the opening in Wellington of the fourteenth congress of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire, an important event, not, only because of the discussions to take place, but also because of the fact that it is the first time that the congress has been held in New Zealand. A variety of subjects is incorporated in the preliminary and supplementary order papers, such as immigration "and shipping and other questions which are occupying the minds of the people of Great Britain and the other parts of the Empire, and the conference is regarded as being of the utmost moment. The inauguration of the congress will be by his Excellency the Governor-General (Viscount Galway) on Friday morning, and will be followed by a State luncheon, after which delegates will reassemble for the presidential address of Viscount Elibank. The remits occupy many pages, but in a number of cases they deal with the same subjects, and, no doubt, when the committees are appointed following the presidential address the remits will be collated and brought down in a more compact form when the real business of the congress begins at 10 a.m. on Monday next. The congress is to sit morning and afternoon, concluding on Wednesday, October 7. That night delegates will be going south to commence a tour of the Dominion. During the sitting in Wellington there are to be a number of social gatherings. BRITISH SHIPPING British shipping interests form the subject of remits from the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, the Sydney, Wellington, Brisbane, and Townsville chambers, and these advocate the safeguarding of British shipping. Another Wellington remit recommends reciprocal trading agreements with foreign countries on lines that will not hinder the development of intra-Empire trading.

Intra-Empire trade is an important subject for discussion, and in connection with this suggestions are made in the interests of greater development and cohesion in the economic policies of the United Kingdom and the dominions by the Association of the British Chambers of Commerce, and the Birmingham. Brisbane, and Auckland chambers. MONETARY POLICY

The council of the federation is to submit a remit on the monetary policy. In this remit the council draws attention to the conclusions reached in the report on the monetary policy adopted by the thirteenth congress in 1933 and suggests that, as the World Monetary and Economic Conference failed to bring about “international agreement upon a reformed gold standard,” and that as more than three years have since elapsed, during which tariffs, exchange restrictions, and quotas, which were declared to be a bar to the restoration of any international standard based on gold, have increased rather than diminished, the congress should strongly urge ' upon his Majesty’s Government the desirability of adopting without further delay the alternative course advocated by the federation ( at the thirteenth congress. The alternative is that Empire countries should systematise and develop their present paper currencies in the form of a sterling union. A remit from the Wellington Chamber of Commerce advocates the stabilisation of exchange within the Empire. MIGRATION The council of the federation also has a remit dealing with the question of migration, in which it deplores the maldistribution of population, resulting in some portions of the Empire being overcrowded vhile others are dangerously under-peopled. It urges that the Governments of the Empire should concentrate their attention upon the reforms necessary to increase the purchasing power and prosperity of their people, so as to release once more the flow of migrants within the Empire. There is another remit on the same subject from the Townsville • Queensland) Chamber of Commerce, which recommends steps being taken to form a committee representative of the dominions to discuss nd to adopt a comprehensive scheme with Britain. The same subject is dealt with in remits from the Brisbane. Cardiff, Sydney and Wellington Chambers.

An interesting remit from the London Chamber of Commerce is one advocating calendar reform. It suggests the adoption throughout the Empire of a perpetual 12 months calendar divided into equal quarters of 91 days, with New Year’s Day undated and a fixed date for Easter. Attention to the increasing importation of low-priced goods into the British Empire from countries with low standards of living is drawn by the Leeds Charqber of Commerce, which recommends the Imperial Government to lay before the next Imperial Conference the seriousness of such competition. Reference to this subject is also made in a remit from the Wellington Chamber of Commerce. CARRIAGE OF GOODS The London Chamber of Commerce suggests that the congress reaffirm its opinion as to the benefits to intra-Im-perial trade which would result from uniformity within the Empire of legislation on the lines of the British Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, and accordingly urges upon the Governments of Canada, New Zealand. South Africa, the Irish Free State and Malta the desirability of enacting similar legislation at the earliest possible date. The encouragement and development of air services within the Empire is the subject of a remit from the Auckland Chamber of Commerce. The London Chamber of Commerce emphasises the importance of adequate ground organisation along the Empire air routes, and in another remit the importance of an adequate and unified system of radio aids to air navigation. There are a number of remits relating to Customs, telegraph, wireless, telephone and postal matters. A remit of particular importance to New Zealand is one from the Grimsby Chamber of Commerce, which suggests that in the interest of nrogressive trade with New Zealand the embargo imposed in 1923 on direct exports to New Zealand of live stock should be removed. Remits from the Trinidad Chamber of Commerce deal with the question of preference to Empire sugar and to petroleum and its products either produced or refined within 'he Empire.