DUTY TO EMPIRE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26096, 8 March 1946, Page 6

DUTY TO EMPIRE

COMING TRADE TALKS NOTHING TO BE BARGAINED AWAY (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, Mar. 6. Arguing that the national effort for which Mr Attlee called was not sufficient in itself to bring recovery. Lord Altrincham, in the House of Lords, moved that the House recognise that reciprocal and economic aid between the kindred peoples is indispensable to the coherence of the British Commonwealth, and the welfare ot the colonial empire, and was calculated to stimulate multilateral trade and world recovery. He said: “ Our economic policy depended, in addition to the national effort, upon the wisdom with .which we devised, pursued, and expounded our policy of external affairs. It was essential that these views be made clear at the Imperial Conference and the international trade conferences. which will be held later in the year. Our first duty in external affairs was to the Commonwealth and the Empire, and the small nations whose freedom we had championed. The crux of that policy depended on our relations with America. “ The danger o{ misunderstanding lay in the really serious difference about the value and significance of the Empire and the moral obligation which the Empire constituted for us.” Lord Pakenham, replying for the Government, accepted Lord Altrincham’s motion because it agreed with the Government’s policy as outlined in the White Paper on international trade, and the employment conference. The Government, he said, at these tremendous negotiations, would not forget the importance which they attached to the moral side of the Commonwealth and Empire. The Ottawa agreements, in the broadest sense, were the sheet-anchor in time of trouble. They had made all the difference to the producers of certain commodities in this country, the colonies and the dominions, and were indispensable to whole communities. ‘‘We intend to make the international trade negotiations a success,” he added. “ but we are not fawning and prostrate. We are going into the master neither with our tongues in our cheeks nor with caps in hand. Our hearts will be on our sleeves, but our heads will be on our shoulders. If we do have to surrender anything that proves of value you must trust us to ensure that we will obtain full value for the sacrifice. What is going to be bargained over is the external trappings of the Empire. We are not going to put anything fundamental to the family on the bargain counter. What will go on the bargain counter will be what already is in the shop window.” The Government, Lord Pakeham stressed, was pledged to international co-operation, economic and otherwise. The British people felt a strong and universal desire for abiding friendship with the American people, and a strong coherent British Commonwealth was the best and the only means toward a lasting friendship between Britain and America. Lord Addison gave an assurance that the House need not contemplate the forthcoming conference with any misgivings. The Government would watch Empire interests with scrupulous care. The House agreed to the motion.