EMPIRE’S TRADE

Taranaki Daily News, 23 July 1931, Page 5

EMPIRE’S TRADE

house continues debate SYSTEM OF BULK PURCHASE “ OPPOSITION A DISSERVICE VIEWS OF LABOUR LEADER SELECTION OF GOVERNORS By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. Resuming the debate on Imperial affairs in the House of Representatives this afternoon, the Hon. A. J. Stallworthy, Minister of Health, suggested consideration should be given at the next Imperial Conference to;the question of zoning of production. The Leader of the Labour Pai ty, Mr. H. E. Holland, expressed the opinion that definite trade agreements were more important than any tariff agicements that could be made. When the Prime Minister had gone to the Imperial Conference definitely opposing bulk purchase he had done an enormous disserve to the people of New Zealand. Bulk purchase would have given them a systematised method of commercial relationships with Britain and would have enabled them to guarantee a minimum income to producers and a minimum income to wage earners. It would have stabilised purchasing the power of the people of New Zealand and would have assured a more satisfactory mar, ket for primary products than there wag at present ap well as contributing towards the solution of the unemployment problem. , Referring to the Singapore naval base, Mr. Holland asked what particular work was to stand over for five years and whether New Zealand would still have to contribute £125,000 annually irrespective of the need for money to meet unemployment distress here in the ponflnion. STATUS OF DOMINIONS. Mr. Holland expressed the opinion that adoption of the Statute of Westminster defining the status of the Do minions was not fearsome a matter as Mr*-H. M* Rushworth (Country, Bay of Islands) imagined; it merely" save legal expression to a position J already existing. Mr. Holland could not imagine any'Dominion wishing the British Government to retain the power of veto over the laws it parsed relating to its own domestic affairs and trade agreements with other countries. The clause relating to the appointment of a Governor-General made that question one between the King and the Dominion concerned. This demonstrated a sentiment that had grown up m the Dominions. The idea was not new to New Zealand, because in the past front-rank statesmen such as Sir George Grey, Sir Robert Stout, Mr. John Ballance and others had advocated that the Dominion. should elect its own Governor-General. The Prime Minister had indicated he did not favour the appointment of New Zealand’s own Governor-General, but Australia had followed the example of the Irish Free State and Mr. Holland predicted the time would come when all the Dominions would take the same step, with New Zealand coming in last. This was not a very important matter but was an interesting constitutional issue. He was confident there was a widespread feeling in New Zealand that the people of the Dominion rather than the Government of Britain should be party to the appointments. Mr. Holland reiterated there was nothin" to be alarmed about in the Statute of Westminster. There was no suggestion of disintegration of the Empire. He felt sure th© bonds would be lixed far more securely than any principle of subjection could provide for. MR. FORBES NOT A DOORMAT. Mr. W. J. Broadfoot (United, Waitomo) said Canada wanted to sell its goods but did not want to take New Zealand’s goods in return.. He considered the prime Minister had adopted the right attitude in not allowing Canada to make a doormat of him. ’ Referring to the whaling industry in the Antarctic, Mr. Broadfoot said the foodstuffs being produced from whale oil were a serious menace to New Zealand’s produce. He considered it was a matter for tho League of Nations to stop indiscriminate slaughter of whales and make the industry one that- would "last for all time. Mr, W- J- Pbhson (Independent, Stratford) said New Zealand would have to pay attention to placing its produce iii British ports other than London. The use of other ports should have been considered at the conference; if the matter was considered why had it not been reported upon? Referring to bulk purchase, Mr. Polson said no satisfactory scheme had been put forward. If a satisfactory scheme were evolved he believed the farmers would consider it. Mr. Polson agreed with Mr. J. S. Fletcher (Independent, Grey Lynn) that a committee representing all parts of the Empire should be set up to consider questions of trade. Until it was treated as a matter of business nothing of any great value would be achieved. Lord Macmillan had expressed the opinion that if New Zealand desired Britain to absorb more of its products the New Zealanders should be prepared to take more of Britain’s exports. Mr. C- H- Clinkard (United, Rotorua) urged that the Dominion should endeavour to consume more of Britain’s produce. Mr. W- E- Parry (Labour, Auckland Central) questioned the Prime Minister’s right to state at the conference that New Zealand farmers did not favour bulk purchase. CONSTITUTION SATISFACTORY. Th® Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, referring to the Statute of Westminster, said that while he believed there were one or two Dominions that would take advantage of the provisions he felt confident there would be -several which would express a desire that their constitution should not be altered. They would be content With the simple declaration itself. He did not think New Zealand people generally fully recognised what defence meant to outlying Dominions. They were inclined to forget that if they had pay for it they would owe a line penny to Britain. Peace to a very great extent depended upon the men conducting foreign relations and carrying out very delicate negotiations, said Mr. Coates. New Zealand had no Foreign Ministry and he thought it would be very well advised to keep away f rolll conducting its own foreign negotiations. It would take many generations for New Zealand to i

train men along these lipes and the Dominion could depend upon Butain to do that task. He was satisfied Britain was and had been for many years the greatest factor in the world for peace, and in this respect was performing a great service on New Zealand’s 'behalf for which the Dominion was not paying a penny piece. It would be wise for New Zealand to make provision simple form of liaison on account of the possibility of relatively rapid changes of Government, but bn the other hand it always had been the case in the past that whatever Government was in office could be depended upon to express the true sentiments of the people of New Zealand. There were parties between which there were very great differences on policy matters, but all were equally keen to maintain a close association with Britain. CONFERENCE NOT DISAPPOINTING Mr. Coatee stated he did not agree that the Imperial Conference had been disappointing. There must be different viewpoints between different partners in the British Commonwealth of Nations and he failed to understand how they could got closer together without conferences. He was satisfied the money w a ? not being, wasted, if the Dominions obtained information that helped them appreciate the different viewpoints. Mr. Coates was somewhat concerned over the present strained relations with. Canada and urged that every reasonable step should be taken to bring about a closer relationship than at the present time. He was certain the countiy was most anxious a settlement should be reached because Empire trade was the ideal and he believed that the ideal would be substantially materialised in the near future. Discussing the forthcoming Ottawa conference, Mr. Coates said be would like Mr. Forbes to indicate if he had had an opportunity of discussing trade relations with India. He believed there was an opportunity for tho development of trade between New Zealand aud India. He would also like to know if trade relations between the Dominions generally would be closely discussed at? the conference. It should be the politicians’ task to initiate and encourage intra-Empire trade and associated with them would be the Civil Service. Any further efforts in the direction of cementing trade arrangements, such as the appointment of trade commissioners, should rest with the representatives of the various industries. Mr. H. G. R. Mason (Labour, Auckland Suburbs) deprecated any feeling that New Zealand had not grown up and was not able to govern itself. He rejoiced that other Dominions had a better idea of ‘•heir status than New Zealand appeared to have. Next to a control board of producers, said Mr. W. D. Lysnar (Independent, Gisborne) he would support bulk purchase. CONDITIONS CHANGED. The Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. A. J. Murdoch, said the Prime Minister, like other Prime Ministers, had gone to the Imperial Conference with the intention of arranging as far as possible better means of trading within the Empire. When Britain had established itself as a free trade country it had had. a large foreign trade, but conditions had changed and many forci"ii countries were manufacturing colnmoditics previously purchased from Britain. If Britain- would impose a small tariff for the benefit of products produced within the Empire it would mean much to the Dominions and would tend to assist the workers of Britain.

Commenting on the statement that the Empire Marketing Board had spent £50,000 last year, the Minister said approximately £500,000 had been spent on propaganda and scientific research; that was all-embracing. The board’s idea was to make the Empire self-sup-porting by increasing production in the Dominions and Britain.

A permanent secretariat for the Imperial Conference was advocated by Mr. G. C. C. Black (Independent, Motueka). Mr. W. Lee Martin (Labour, Raglan) complained that Mr. Forbes had gone to the conference without knowing tho minds of the various sections of the community.

The debate was interrupted by the rising of the House at 10.30 p.m,