2 JUNE 1923, Page 7

On past occasions the wanderer returning from journeys to far-off

parts of the British Empire must have regretted the difficulty of readily obtaining Empire produce in London. The Imperially-minded Briton who attempted to apply his patriotic creed to his menu was destined to disappointment if he set out deter- mined to have coffee from Jamaica's Blue Mountains, Cape plums, Gaspe salmon, Queensland pineapple and so forth, and he frequently had to be satisfied with substitutes from Brazil, from Spain, from the Canary Islands or elsewhere. I do not suppose for a moment that those responsible for the idea of the Empire Week in the shops were stupid enough to desire Great Britain to cease purchasing foodstuffs outside the Empire, but they hoped to concentrate attention on Empire-grown products. As Sir Joseph Cook, the Australian High Commissioner, reminded a London audience last week, the 5,000,000 Australians buy as much from Great Britain as do the 110,000,000 Americans, and twice as much as the 40,000,000 French. The more Great Britain buys from Australia, the more Australia 'is prepared to buy from us.