OTTAWA PACTS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 168, 19 July 1939, Page 7

OTTAWA PACTS

BRITAIN GRATEFUL I TRADE STIMULATED COMMERCE CONGRESS (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, July 17. Opening the congress of the empire Chamber of Commerce, which is alienee-: by 300 delegates irom all parts ul me Umpire’, the Domimuns Seo clary, bir 'j. nomas Inskip, said th.'.t Ottawa temained the keystun-- of 1 1ue Lcr.imonwealth’s economic system a-i.i hac; um oubtedly stimulated the ' t.'jc! .■ of lhe Uniteu Kingdom. Eten I if it had not solved all problems and I perhaps had created new ones, Britain ' j was grateful for the agreements. Ot- ' tawa had enabled Britain to offset the ■ I contraction of foreign trade caused by ; economic nationalism, but this had been achieved without exploitation ol any part of the Empire. The Earl of Dudley, in his presi- ; dential address, said that the world • was still erroneously concentrating on the problem of how to increase pro- ‘ duction, whereas the greatest problem ■ of the Twentieth Century was how to increase consumption. He criticised the backwardness of the Empire air services and recalled the advocacy of ’ night-flying which was made at the Wellington congress in 1936, but the Air Minister was still pondering. i' The Earl of Dudley also presided at ‘ a luncheon in the Grocers’ Hall. The 1 Colonial Secretary, Mr. Malcolm Mac- • Donald, proposing the toast of lhe Empire's commerce, referred to the present artificial devices for restricting markets, the current, political unrest, and the fear of war, with consequent paralysis of international trade. Nevertheless, he said, there had been immense expansion of Tmperial trade, which had partly counteracted other losses. This spring from the Ottawa agreement, but a more fundamental cause was that th? countries of the Empire did not. regard each other with suspicion and preserved their markets for each other, Despite this year of “non-stop crisis,’’ the Empire’s prosperity would further expand if confidence among the nations of Europe could be restored.