The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING, Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 1924. IMPERIAL PREFERENCE.

Southland Times, Issue 19276, 21 June 1924, Page 4

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING, Luceo Non Uro. SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 1924. IMPERIAL PREFERENCE.

The voting in the House of Commons on the Imperial Preference proposals revealed a surprisingly even division of opinion. The debate, though characterised by the earlier messages as being dull, evidently concluded with some interesting speeches and plenty of excitement; but it must be • confessed that the supporters of Imperial Preference were at a distinct advantage in presenting separate proposals to the House, and it is not unjust to say that in this contest they secured as much strength as they could depend upon in the Chamber. The Labour Ministry was evidently nervous about the position. Into the Ministers’ ears had been dinned the warning that to vote down Imperial Preference proposals would mean the breaking-up of the Empire, and they also knew that the fate of the Government depended upon its adherence to the Free Trade principles upon which it entered office and upon which it could claim the support of the Liberals. The debate will probably do a great deal of good; but it is for the dominions to realise that just as they dejnand the right to eettte their domestic

I affaire without the interference of the Motherland, so the Motherland herself must . consider any question touching her domestic <! life primarily from the point of view of her domestic needs. The British nation, as shown by the last general election, is overwhelmingly in favour of Free Trade, and it is not difficult to understand why the elector in Britain clings to that principle. It is upon Free Trade, in good season and in bad, that Britain has built her commercial and financial strength, and to this fact must be added the certainty that to secure preference for Imperial goods was to increase the cost of living. Except as war measures or for some punitive reason, the dominions have frowned on the building-up of tariff protection on foodstuffs. It is generally admitted that the taxation of food necessaries is not desirable, and yet the Imperial Preference proposals would impose that very burden upon the people of the Old Land. The point was well made that the Preference we conceded to Britain did not involve the dominions in the acceptance of a new tariff policy. We had a tariff wall against outside manufactures and Britain was on the same scale as other nations. When Imperial Preference was adopted, we did not lower the duty upon British goods; we raised it upon goods from other countries. . That is a small thing compared with the cool request by the Imperial Conference that Britain should abandon Free Trade. With the defeat of the Imperial Preference proposals in the House of Commons, it may be asked what the Imperial Government can do to tighten up the bonds linking the Empire. The obvious answer is that there should be a thorough investigation of other avenues for the assistance of trade. Improved communications and anything that will facilitate exchange and trade will be welcomed, and •t is possible that even the Labour Government in the Old Country would not be adverse to some system of subsidies to British liners carrying Imperial goods from the dominions to the Old Country to remove the handicap under which the distant units of Empire labour in a contest, say, with the Argentine. At the present moment the dominions are able to dispose of their output in the Old Country. Competition from other lands does not prevent our sales, and it is noticeable that in our great industries we have a very small carry-over from one season to another. The competition of the future will be more severe than that which we are now experiencing, and Argentine will provide the first vital test, but we can meet our rival with two weapons. The first is quality, and the second those trade facilities which should be possible between members of the same family. Thtf first proposal demands energetic and scientific effort on the part of our own people. The Meat Boards and the Dairy Boards must turn their faces in the direction of the land and use their powers with the co-operation of the Department of Agriculture to advocate, and if necessary, to compel the development of farming along lines calculated to give us the finest quality of product suitable for the markets we supply. This aspect of the Control Boards’ functions must not be overlooked. It is as important, if not more important, than work in connection with the actual marketing of our goods, because upon the land depends our ultimate success. The second point involves a wide range of subjects involved in the complicated system of trading—banking, freightage, marketing and publicity. Within the Imperial family it should be possible to simplify and cheapen the machinery of trade and exchange, and to ensure that development schemes are given a prior call on British capital. The proposal made by the previous Government to grant loans for development work in the dominions at a low rate of interest is part of this programme which can bring about a closer trade relationship in the Empire without putting the cost of it on the poorer people of England by means of a tariff wall.