A.—6

The Conference, on the recommendation of the General Economic Sub-Com-mittee,* adopted the following resolution : — " The Imperial Conference welcomes the efforts that are being made to reach international agreement upon measures for abolishing the evils resulting from the discharge of oil in navigable waters, and recommends the principles of the draft convention for this purpose recently prepared at Washington to the consideration of the Governments of the Empire." (f) Statistical Questions. On the subject of Wool Statistics,f the Conference adopted the following resolution " The Imperial Conference, impressed by the need for more complete, more uniform, and more prompt statistics regarding the production, stocks, and consumption of wool throughout the world, recommends that such steps as are found to be most suitable should be taken to secure the co-operation of foreign countries in this matter, and, further, that the Governments of the Empire represented at this Conference should consider the adoption of such measures as are necessary and feasible to secure the provision and publication of such statistics, provided that foreign countries materially concerned, either as producers or consumers, are prepared to take similar action." Proposals which had been made from several quarters for the collection and publication of Statistics of Foodstuffs in Cold Storage were considered and the conclusion was reached by the General Economic Sub-Comm itteet that international returns relating to such commodities would be .most valuable. The following resolution on the subject was adopted — " The Imperial Conference, impressed by the need for international statistics of the quantities of foodstuffs held in cold storage, recommends that suitable steps should be taken to obtain the co-operation of foreign countries in securing the compilation and prompt publication of such international statistics." Attention was drawn§ to the resolution of the Imperial Economic Conference of 1923,|| which had as its object to render the Statistics of Trade, Production, &c., of the different parts of the Empire, published by His Majesty's Government in Great Britain, as valuable as possible with reference to the development of inter-Imperial trade. It had now been suggested that an effective method of approaching this end would be gradually to modify and expand future issues of the existing Abstract for the British Oversea Dominions and Protectorates prepared by His Majesty's Government in Great Britain, for which purpose the Board of Trade in London would keep in touch with the several Government authorities concerned. It was considered that after one or two further issues of the Abstract it might be found desirable to hold a meeting of statisticians from the various parts of the Empire to review the progress made and consider the lines of further advance. The Conference endorsed the views of the General Economic Sub-Committee on the subject. (g) Taxation Questions. The Conference adopted reports** of the General Economic Sub-Committee 011 certain matters relating to taxation. A review of the steps which had been taken in the various parts of the Empire to give effect to the resolution of the Imperial Economic Conference of 1923 ft 011 the subject of the immunity of State enterprises from taxation showed that there was a measure of agreement within the Empire sufficient to warrant the opening of negotiations with the Governments of foreign countries with a view to the conclusion of reciprocal agreements for the mutual taxation of Government trading enterprises.

* Fifth Report of the General Economic Sub-Committee. f First Report of the General Economic Subcommittee. % Second Report of the General Economic Sub-Committee. § Third Report of the General Economic Sub-Committee. || This resolution was as follows : " This Imperial Economic Conference, recognizing the importance of rendering the trade statistics published by the Government of the United Kingdom as valuable as possible with reference to the development of inter-Imperial trade, recommends that the United Kingdom Board of Trade, after reviewing the statistics in question from this point of view, should draw up a detailed scheme and submit it to the Governments of the several parts of the Empire for their consideration." ** Ninth, Eleventh, and Twelfth Reports of the General Economic Sub-Committee. ft For this resolution see A.-6a,~ 1924, p. 255.

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