Blow to Dominions

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 714, 13 July 1929, Page 9

Blow to Dominions

ABOLITION OF PREFERENCES Protest from Australia (United P.A.—By Telegraph—Copyrightl (Australian and 2s.Z. Press Association) deceived 12.15 p.m. SYDNEY, Today. THE Prime Minister, Mr. Stanley Bruce, and the Queensland Premier, Mr. A. E. Moore, have communicated to London their belief that the abolition of trade preferences, as proposed by Mr. Philip Snowden, Chancellor of the Exchequer, would be a great blow to Australian industries. The loss to the Australian sugar and dried fruits industries, if the proposal were carried out, is estimated at £850,000 a year.

A London message says the threat made by Mr. Snowden has aroused keen controversy. The newspapers are publishing lengthy cablegrams from the Dominions, which stress the point that loss of trade will Inevitably ensue, apart from the larger issue of linking up the Empire. The “Daily Telegraph” says it is now evident that Mr. Snowden’s announced intention • has« seriously disturbed the public mind in each of the Dominions. Even a slight knowledge of the public feeling in the Empire overseas would have warned Mr. Snowden that preference was not regarded solely as a matter of business. It is regarded as a manifestation of sympathy and a desire for more intimate inter-imperial relationships. The “Telegraph” refers to Mr. Snowden’s tentative proposal for a special Imperial Economic Conference, to see what can be done to extend inter-imperial trade. The newspaper also dwells on the idea, favoured in Britain and in the Dominions of a conference of experts, to work out a concerted policy of Empire trade, which may subsequently, be submitted to an Imperial Conference, such as Mr. Snowden suggests. The “Daily Telegraph” says it be-

lieves the time is ripe for the adoption of both these proposals, and saj’S that therefore it is most vital that the prospect should not be prejudiced either by premature or ill-considered declarations of the Government's intention on the one hand, or by the brandishing of unauthorised fiscal programmes by individuals of the opposite party on the other hand. In the course of the debate on the Address-in-Reply, Mr. Snowden said the Government did not believe those relations could be placed on the best footing of mutual advantage by a system of preferential traiffs, least of all by such proposals as had been put forward with recklessness by Lord Beaverbrook. The late Joseph Chamberlain bad stated that there could not be Imperial preference without a tax on food and raw material. To that policy the Government. -would never subscribe. He hoped that when he left office lie would have swept away all food duties, including those on sugar and dried fruits. Preference on them would naturally go too. Mr. Snowden said he meant to inquire into the difficulties of sugarproducing in the colonies and Dominions, but he would not assist them by tariffs.