ATTACK ON TARIFFS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LII, Issue 17178, 30 October 1926, Page 7

ATTACK ON TARIFFS

j BURDEN ON TAXPAYER ! PREFERENCE A BUSINESS. i A FREE TRADER’S CRITICISM. (Sydney Sun Cables.) (Received October 30, 12 noon). LONDON, October 29. “We do not regard Imperial preference as a faith which must not be ‘tampered with,” declared Sir Walter ! Rtinekuan at tiro Free Trade Union , luncheon. “We regard it as a business made by the Government for the benefit of certain business men. It is rubbish to talk about trade between Britain and Australia. It is not the countries that trade, but the individuals. Preference must be given to individuals at the expense of the genoi il taxpayer, who has enough to bear without subsidising the antipodes. “ Mr. Bruce appeals in plain words, so 1 will sav Australian tariffs are j created to help Australian manufacknrors against ours. Mr. Bruce talks !of a gift of £8,000,000. There is no gift in that. The less Australian rcI presontatives talk of gifts the better. There is ho distinction between the purchaser of British goods happening ■ to live in the Dominions, and the foreign purchaser. Foreigners absorb three-fifths of the British exports. , European trade is equally important ■as Empire trade. We must not iuj jure the larger for the ,sake of the 1 smaller. j “The only method by which politiI Mans can foster Empire trade is by lowering, and ultimately abolishing. Empire tariffs. We havo taken toll of the world’s resources for three generations, and nothing less than the world will satisfy us now.”

Sir Walter Runciman is connected with several shipping organisations, and is a director of the Westminster Bank. He lias bold a number of important Parliamentary positions, and was president, of the Board of Trado from .1914 to 1916.