Thames Star. THURSDAY, JULY 3, 1930. FOREIGN FOODSTUFFS.

Thames Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 17929, 3 July 1930, Page 4

Thames Star.

THURSDAY, JULY 3, 1930. FOREIGN FOODSTUFFS.

"With malic* toward* nono; with charity for all! with firmneaa in tha right, •• God q\v— ua to tho rißht.-'-^Lincpln.

The great difficulty in extending the Imperial preferential system, it is well-known, is the exclusion of taxes on foreign foodstuffs. The cry of a "free breakfast table'! is uppermost when there is any suggestion of advancing Imperial preference, and the insularity of the Englishman becomes predominant. This difficulty still faces the protagonists of the Empire free-trade policy, and "Viscount Elibank says that, unless the Unionist or some other party are prepared to admit the principle of taxation of foreign foodstuffs, no considerable or large advance in Imperial trading can be expected in this or in future generations. He discusses the foreign imports of Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and, summing up, says: "It is proposed under Empire free trade that taxes should be put on foreign foodstuffs only, and not* on Empire foodstuffs. This is very imprtant, because Empire foodstuffs are grown under labour and waj*e conditions very much approximating to our own, whereas foreign foodstuffs are nt. Consequently, if we admit the necessity, and nearly everyone in this country admits it to-day, of preventing the importation of dumping foodstuffs, whether by the imposition of countervailing duties or by embargo, the agricultural industry in Great Britain must necessarily be assisted, because the price at which foodstuffs from overseas will be sold in this country will be that at which they are grown in the Dominions and not in foreign countries." Defending the policy of Empire free trade, Viscount Elibank admits that if the electors were asked to protect the farmers of Great Britain merely by putting taxes on foodstuffs without any relation to the Empire, this would be a policy of food taxing purely and simply, but this is not the proposal. The intention is that no taxes are to be placed on foreign foodstuffs unless there are compensating advantages to be gained from the Dq-

minions or eolonies. In the greater trade to follow the policy, British manufacturers will share, so that their industries will be assisted, with a consequent decrease in unemployment. Viscount Elibank soneludes on the high note that Empire Day should be spent in looking forward to the future with high hopes that shortly "we may reap the fruits of the seeds sown for us by our forbears of a great economic Empire."