THE OTTAWA CONFERENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 June 1931, Page 4

THE OTTAWA CONFERENCE.

The decision to postpone the proposed session of the Imperial Conference, which was to have been held in Ottawa next August, will come as no surprise. Jt was to have discussed. Empire economics and. the furtherance of intra-Einpire trade without interference with the fiscal systems now in vogue. On the face of it to find means to such an end with such a limitation was an almost impossible task, and nothing has happened since the Imperial Conference met in London last year to show that the economic deadlock then reached is more likely to be dissipated in Canada. On the contrary, conditions in New Zea-

land, Australia and Canada are distinctly less promising for any closer trading than they were last year, .the political situation here and in the Commonwealth is uncertain enough to prevent the Ministries in office from attempting any radical departure _ from existing trade relations, and until the ■support of the electorate has 'been obtained any discussions like those proposed could be only more or less academic. Further, the trade relations between Canada and this country are just now in a state of flux. For the moment co-operation has given place to active competition, aided, by high tariffs. There are grounds for hoping that this phase may soon pass, but it is essentially a time for direct negotiations between the two Dominions first, without their domestic problems being added to by considerations of wider moment. Cireat Britain, in turn, has shown not the slightest intention of departing in any degree from the free trade policy, but there also political conditions are uncertain and may have considerable influence when the postponed conference meets. With so many pressing domestic problems needing the Ministry’s closest attention the decision to postpone the Ottawa conference is likely to meet with little criticism here.