Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-05
England Has High Hopes
Of Imperial Conference
BY A. G. GARDINER,
England's Greatest Liberal Editor.

Englands Greatest Liberal Editor.
LONDON, october 4.-The Imperial
Conference opened here Wednesday
and during the present month London
will be in a special sense the heart of
the empire. From New Zealand to Can
ada, all of the premiers of the overseas
dominions have come, accompanied by
their official stats.
With the exception of Premier Hert-
zog of South Africa, all of the premiers
are making their first personal appear
ances on the stage in England and the
conference has a special significance
from the fact that it Is the first held
under the auspices of a Labor govern
ment in England
The last conference. in 1926, was a
memorable one for its ratification of
the complete independence of the do
minions, including the right of seces-
sion, and in view OF that fact the chief
interest of the present conference turns
upon the development of the empire
upon a new and entirely voluntary
basis Political issues have become
secondary and the dominant subject
for consideration will be the question of
economic organization of the empire
on cooperative lines.
n y X
Had the Conservatives been in power
in the present mood of the country,
undoubtedly the conference would have
been exploited for the purpose of Gre
ating something in the nature of Gus
toms union aiming at the maximum
measure of free trade within the en-
pire and tariffs against the foreigner
The difficulties Of establishing such a
system are immense in view of the fact
that 1t involves taxes on food for the
British consumer and that dominions
like Canada and Australia are unwih-
ing to admit British manufactures on
a free trade basis.
Labor being still predominantly free
trade and definitely hostile to food
taxes, the question Of the empire be-
ing inclosed within tariff walls will for
mally arise, though schemes for extern
sion of the preferential system in ia
vor of interimperial trade will be dis
cussed.
While opposed to the policy of pro-
lection Labor is much enamored of
the idea of establishing import boards
for bulk purchases of wheat, wool and
meat on a colossal scale. The view Is
that this policy would stabilize prices
for the home producer and is necessary
to this country in order to combat huge
such as the Federal Farm Board of the
United States, wheat pools in Canada,
Australia, France and Germany, and
the Russian state monopoly. But OPP
ponents of the idea stress the fact of
the failure of these pools to control
prices and the danger of setting up i'm
port boards with the power to make
the consumer suffer calamitously for
the niscalculation Of officials.
X x X X
Moreover, even assuming the wisdom
of import boards, 1t is argued that bulk
purchases could not be restricted to
dominions whose crops might fail and
throw the whole calculation out of gear.
A much more promising, though less
spectacular, proposal, urged upon the
conference for economic consolidation
of the empire, is the establishment of
permanent imperial development board
representing all parts of the empire
and sitting continuously for the discus
sion OF economic relations of the empire.
At present there is an entire lack of
coordination between parts of the en-
pire and 1t Is obvious that in the swiftly
changing world the meeting of the
Imperial Conference once in four years
is useless except for the discussion of
general policies and the keeping alive
needs to be supplemented, like the
League OF Nations, with a permanent
secretariat which will keep the whole
system In organic association, prepare
schemes for development of the re-
sources of the empire and stimulate
economic contacts.
X X X
The dominions still are largely virgin
lands, thinly populated and offering a
vast field of large scale enterprises in
irrigation, canalization of rivers and
electrical development. England has
money and the necessary surplus
population for these tasks and all that
Is lacking Is the machinery of imperial