470
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :---
TPEUTI wwimmimCO.885/25
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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(2) That the Government be urged to take immediate steps to introduce legislation with the object of imposing such duties at the earliest possible date;
and at the last session of the Legislative Council of Southern Rhodesia, held in May, 1916, the following resolution was adopted :-
That this Council is in favour of the application of the most stringent regulations to restrict post-war trade and investment by present enemy countries, for the purpose of :-
(a) Encouraging the development of British industries within the
Empire:
(b) Limiting the opportunities for the securing of an undesirable
influence or control in industries of national importance.
3. During the year 1913, the last complete year during which importations from enemy countries were possible, the value of goods imported into Southern Rhodesia from Germany was £156,367, being 5-4 per cent. of the total value of imports; this compared with £137,653, being 5.1 per cent. of the imports for the year 1912.
During the year 1913, goods to the value of £4,482 were imported Goods imported from Austria-Hungary, and £1,807 from the Turkish Empire. from Germany in 1913 were, chiefly :-
4.
Cement
Cotton manufactures
Detonators and fuse
Cyanide of sodium
Electric cables and fittings
Articles of food and drink
Hardware and cutlery
Pipes and piping
Mining machinery
Manures and fertilizers
Locomotives
Toys and fancy goods
£7,189
28,704
4,794
4,136
8,557
5,332
9,620
10,709
20,753
4,395
3,597 3,259
At the outbreak of war there were in Southern Rhodesia only three businesses of any importance belonging to enemy firms. Under the provisions of the "Trading with the Enemy Ordinances" passed by the Legislative Council, these businesses have been prevented from trading, and the most important of them is now being wound up.
5. Expressions of opinion in regard to the recommendations of the Economic Conference and the questions submitted to the Committee referred to in Your Lordship's despatch of 1st December, have been obtained from the various Chambers of Commerce in the territory, and also from the Rhodesia Munitions and Resources Committee. This committee, it should be stated, was formed in November, 1915, with the object of acting in co-operation with a similar com- mittee formed in the Union of South Africa. The members of the committee are representative of the chief interests and industries of the country, and the British South Africa Company is represented thereon by Mr. E. C. Baxter, Con- troller of Customs and Excise. A copy of an Interim Report* issued by the com- mittee in June last, and containing much valuable information, is attached. together with a copy of a memorandum dated 16th December, 1918.
It appears that all the Chambers of Commerce, and the Rhodesia Munitions and Resources Committee, endorse certain resolutions passed at the Nineteenth Annual Congress of the Association of Chambers of Commerce of South Africa held at Cape Town in 1916. These resolutions are as follows:-
(1) Trading after the War :—
(a) That the Customs tariff of the Union of South Africa be so amended as to provide for (1) a substantial rebate in favour of the products and manufactures of the British Empire; (2) the principle of Customs preference to our Allies provided they reciprocate; (3) reciprocal tariff relations with other countries--but in no case placing other countries on an equality with the British Empire or its Allies; (4) a special tariff against the products and manufactures of the present enemy countries on such a scale and for such a period as may be agreed upon at the Conference between the Imperial and the Dominion Govern- ments.
Not reprinted.
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(b) That differential charges against all enemy shipping be made at the South African ports in accordance with the resolutions of the Paris Conference.
(c) That no trading licences be issued to enemy subjects or to agents of enemy firms, provided that there shall be reasonable safeguards in respect of existing licences.
(d) That, subject to any agreement which may be made between Great Britain and her Allies, no foreign patents should be allowed to be held in this country unless they are worked, or the articles so patented are made, in the British Empire.
(e) That enemy subjects holding certificates of British naturalization shall be required within a reasonable period of the conclusion of peace to produce papers of denaturalization from the country of their origin, or satisfy a competent authority of their inability to obtain
them.
(2) That, with a view to encouraging the establishment of new industries in the British Empire and giving a measure of confidence and security to capital to be embarked therein, as well as assisting the expansion of existing industries, the Government of the Empire be urged to make it obligatory on all Government Departments, municipalities, railways, dock and harbour boards, gas, water, and electric light corporations, and all such bodies spending public moneys or enjoying charters from Government or other public authorities, to purchase Empire-made goods and to place all contracts with British firms, exceptions to be made, by special permission of proper authority, only in cases where such a course is considered to be at variance with public interests.
(3) This Congress, in expressing approval of the decisions arrived at by the Allied Economic Conference, is convinced that, if given effect to, they will be the means of placing effective restraints upon the commercial activities of our enemies in general after the War and of consolidating the resources of the Empire and the Allied countries.
It will be seen that there is in Southern Rhodesia complete agreement with the principles contained in the resolutions of the Economic Conference, and, further, that there is a consensus of opinion that after the War there should be strict discrimination by way of Customs duties and otherwise against importations from enemy countries. The principle of giving preference to goods of British origin has, in accordance with Mr. Rhodes's wishes, always been upheld in Rhodesia. Artiole 47 of the Southern Rhodesia Order in Council, 1898, provided:-
"That no Customs duty levied on any articles produced or manu- factured in any part of Her Majesty's Dominions or in any British Pro- tectorate and imported into Southern Rhodesia shall exceed in amount the duty levied on such articles according to the tariff in force in the South African Customs Union at the commencement of this Order, or the tariff contained in the Customs Union Convention between Cape Colony, Orange Free State, and Natal in May, 1898, whichever are higher
and this provision has only been modified in regard to tobacco and intoxicating liquors by the Southern Rhodesia (Customs Amendment) Order in Council, 1914: the effect being that at the present time British goods, with the exception of tobacco and intoxicating liquors, are entitled in Rhodesia to a total preference averaging about six per cent. There would seem, therefore, to be no reason to doubt that the Legislative Council of Southern Rhodesia will at any time be willing to agree to strict discrimination against imports from enemy countries.
6. With more particular regard to the four questions submitted to the Com- mittee appointed by His Majesty's Government to consider the commercial and industrial policy to be adopted after the War, I have the honour, in terms of Your Lordship's despatch of 27th October last, to submit the following observations:—
A. With regard to question (a), reading as follows:-
What industries are essential to the future safety of the nation; and what
steps should be taken to maintain or establish them?
The experience of the present. War has shown that it is of great importance, first, that the Imperial Government should be able to count on the territories which make up the Empire to supply, either as raw material or manufactured, all
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