TARIFF TRUCE.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18499, 21 February 1930, Page 2

TARIFF TRUCE.

DISCUSSION AT GENEVA. (United Press Association—By Electrle Telegraph—Copyright.) GENEVA, February 18. At the Tariff Truce Conference, Mr William Graham, president of the British Board of Trade, said that unforunately there had been an upward movement in tariffs in certain countries in Europe and other parts of the world. There was no question of stabilising the existing tariffs. All countries should agree not to increase tariffs, but to reduce them to the lowest possible limits. He hoped that the Conference would agree to a truce of two or three years, during which negotiations could be opened for a permanent agreement. He suggested the appointment of a committee to examine and report on the question. He urged the Conference to take immediate steps to carry out the provisions of the 1927 Economic Conference and the Assembly’s resolutions concerning the matter. Mr Schmidt, following Mr Graham, described Germany’s economic difficulties, including shortage of capital, unemployment and the unfavourable consequences of rationalisation. The Conference was most important, he said, because European nations for the first time were meeting in economic congress under the auspices of the League. Germany was prepared to co-operate in securing an economic rapprochement between the European States.