Empire and Trade
ONE of the troubles of democracy and one of the temptations of the politician is a tendency to rest content with abstract phrases. Of current ideas about Imperial policy that is pecu- liarly true, and the next few weeks are going to show at Ottawa whether the Governments can resist it. Whatever view people may hold on the fiscal policy for which Mr. Amery is a front-line fighter, a detailed exposition of the concrete proposals in which the policy might take shape has its value as a contribution to our knowledge. The book which appears under his editorship consists in the main of a string of Reports which have been issued during the past two years under the auspices of the Empire Economic Union and, in some cases, the Federation of British Industries. The proposals of the F.B.I. concerning a tariff structure for industry, published originally a year ago and reprinted here in convenient jutaxposition to a summary of the new Import Duties Act, can be looked back upon as a businesslike piece of preparatory study, but it is curious to find that the most critical problem of all in tariff-making, that of drawbacks, was quite shirked. Another point which few have yet noticed is the significance of the break with nineteenth-century industrial tradition, now that the F.B.I. has overtly committed itself to accept duties on foreign foodstuffs in the interests of Imperial Trade.
But in view of Ottawa, it is tempting to turn first of all to the set of suggested agreements with each Dominion appended to the section on Empire Preference. Here is abstraction trans- lated into material proposals, and there is no handier source extapt for ascertaining the particular commodities in which each Delegation at Ottawa is likely to be interested. Contrary to the opinion of their opponents, Mr. Amery and his associates have not proceeded on the blind principle of saying : "_ Here's a foreign product in competition with an Empire one ; let's put a duty on it." For example, second thoughts convinced them that a duty on foreign hides and skins would be ill- advised, and in the ease of meat, they have foreseen that a quota system might be more appropriate than a tariff, though there is little sign that they have thought out the meat pro- blem thoroughly. The truth is that on the one hand Argentine chilled beef is at present irreplaceable by any Dominion product, and on the other the British farmer desires protection more against Empire mutton than against foreign. Mr. Amery sug- gests the possibility of a minimum quota for Dominion imports, but the more promising idea of a maximum quota for foreign meat does not seem to have occurred to him. He almost cert- ainly goes too far in suggesting that we could afford duties on foreign maize and on foreign linseed.
The non-fiscal benefits which the Dominions enjoy from us already—the Colonial Stock Act, and so on—are conve- niently summarized, and Mr. Amery expresses the important personal view that multilateral conference will be inadequate and that bilateral discussions with each Dominion separately will become necessary, if real success is to be achieved.
The section devoted to monetary and financial policy is more tentative than the rest, and those who hope to discover there what Empire currency co-operation would precisely involve may not feel wholly satisfied. Also, the scorn is undeserved which Mr. Amery pours on " the notion that silver can only be dealt with by international agreement on a comprehensive scale." But mention is due to the admirably informative section on the economic situation of the Colonial Empire. In particular, a succinct account is given of the rarely understood Convention of St. Germain-en-Laye and the Anglo-French Convention of 1898, which so vitally affect the trading position in East and West Africa. The conclusion is too lightly reached that it would be to Britain's advantage to have the fiscal clause in both these Conventions modified, but Mr. Amery's facts deserve study even when his conclusions do not command immediate assent.
The trouble about Mr. Amery is that he so seldom stops to count the cost. He writes boldly of " preferences worth giving for their own sake " in a way which suggests that there must be a blind spot in his eye for any imaginable entries on the debit side of the account. Why need he damage his case by what is nothing less than equivocation about the other Empire countries being our best customers ? They are, in the sense of purchases per head of their population ; but the population of all the Dominions together is small compared with, say, the population of Continental Europe, and while individually a subject of the King is a far better customer for British goods than a foreigner, collectively the Empire takes less than half of our total exports, and foreign countries more than half. Yet both these are static calculations, and a better test of the value of the Empire market is surely its relative potentiality for expansion.
While Mr. Amery writes of what is to be done, the Fifth Annual Report of the Empire Marketing Board tells of what is being done, and it makes an impressive record. Reprieved from the death to which the May Committee sentenced it last summer, but bidden to surrender nearly half its income, the Board tells how the economies have been effected, bears tribute deservedly to the patriotism with which research bodies in receipt of its grants have voluntarily co-operated in economy, and still gives evidence that exceedingly valuable work for the Empire is being furthered. It includes romance : " The burrs of piri-piH have been estimated to reduce the value of wool in New Zealand by £250,000 annually. It differs from the other plants tackled in that it is a native of the Southern Hemisphere, and its natural enemies must therefore be sought outside Europe. A promising sawfly (Antholcue varinervis), whose larvae feed upon piri-piri foliage in winter and spring, was located in Chile. Dr. Miller went over to fetch supplies back to the Cawthorn Institute, and the insect is now being established in the Dominion."
The Report discloses that for the great " Buy British " advertising campaign initiated last November the total cost to the funds of the Board was £12,000 only. Another fact which deserves publicity is that personal calls have been recently made by the Board's representatives on no fewer than 7,224 separate shops selling butter in the principal towns of Lancashire. and whereas only 43 per cent. were stocking Empire butter at the time of.the first canvass, the proportion had risen to 73 per cent. when they were revisited. Such marketing activities are not tq be decried, and the scope of the Board's work is too little known,
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