WORLD ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXIII, 2 May 1927, Page 9

WORLD ECONOMIC PROBLEMS.

Conference at Geneva. SOVIET TO SEND DELEGATION. By Cable—Press Association —Copyright. Sydney ‘ * Sun ’' Service. Received May 1, 5.5 p.m. LONDON, April 30. The Moscow correspondent of the “Daily News,” says that it is officially announced that the Soviet is sending a delegation to the Economic Conference at Geneva on May 5. SOVIET’S OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT. CONFERENCE RANKS OF FIRST IMPORTANCE. By Cable —Press Association —Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. Received May 1, 5.5 p.m. LONDON, April 30. M. Litvinoff has telegraphed to Drummond that the Soviet will he represented at the Economic Conference at Geneva, the Russian delegation consisting of eighteen persons. “The Observer” editorially describes the conference as a grand inquest, ranking in importance before any other work, which the League has attempted. Some see the League as just a militant organism, but the truer version is that it is humbler, safer and more serviceable. Economics are not the whole of life, and man is more than a breadwinner, but economic ignorance is chief amongst the harriers to a rationally constituted world. Europe is suffering from disorganisation; it’s the mishandling and misdirection of her productive power that principally obstructs prosperity, depresses the standard of living, ancl threatens industrial and international peace. altered economic conditions. REMEDIES AGGRAVATE EVILS. Bv Cable —Press Association —Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. Received May 1, 5.5 p.m.,' PARIS, - April 30.

Mr Roger Auborn, a leading publicist, points out in “Le Europe Nouvelle,” that, the trend of the commercial development of the present nations bordering on the Eastern Atlantic to the, Pacific, is due to the countries’ use of capital and manpower to treat and export their own raw material. Thus the cotton industry has greatly progressed in India, China, Brazil, and Mexico; the metallurgical industry in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. The depression of Europe currencies, the employment of hydro-electric power, liquid combustibles, the substitution of artificial silk or cotton have altered economic conditions. Governments seeking remedies, have resorted to excessive protection which on y aggravated the evil. BARRIERS to trade. EUROPE’S TARIFF WALLS denounced. By Cable—Press Association— Copyright. Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. LONDON, April 29. At the annual meeting of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, resolutions were passed deploring the existing tariffs as barriers to trade within the Empire, and uigipg the Government to take every practicable step to remove them. A delegate from Nottingham said that while manufacturers there ent'rely favoured developing trade relationships with every part of the. Empire, they could not do so if the Dominions placed such restrictive tariffs on British products, particularly hosiery, as effectively to exclude them from th e market.

A delegate from Leicester said if new Australian tariffs were imposed thousands cf Leicester workers wou'd be idle.

The Agent-General (Mr Price) said all the faults were not with the Dominions. A great deal of education as to what the Empire meant was needed in Britain. He did not think Britain had any complaints to make about Australia and New Zealand. The greatest offenders regards tar'ffs in Australia were people from Britain, who went out and immediately wanted, a tariff to protect their industries. He concluded: “You want to put your own house in order.” TWO CLASSES OF QUESTIONS. BRITAIN’S INTEREST IN ECONOMICS. Received May 1, 11.0 p.m. LONDON, May 1. A vast amount of preparatory work has been done pending the Economic Conference. Experts have explored the ground in such a way as to direct the Conference mainly to two classes of questions: (1) Commercial and tariff policy. (2) International agreements. It is held that these questions go to the root of the world’s economic difficulties. It is expected the subject of migration will also be prominent. It must be borne in mind that the delegates, though appointed by Governments, and chosen for their personal qualifications in various subjects, ate not in any way the spokesman of official policy. The British delegates are: Sir Arthur Balfour (distinguished authority on economic problems), Sir Arthur Norman Hill (formerly member of Board of Trade), Sir Maximus Pratt (Advisory Committee), Mr W. T. Layton (editor of “The Economist”), Mr Arthur Pugh (chairman of the General Trade Union Conference).