CO885-(16-18) — Page 508

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

गय

C.O.

Reference :-

•885

17 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-

COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

High Wycombe,

London, Luton,

92

Macclesfield,

Salt, Sheffield, Southampton,

S. of Scotland, Stockton, Stroud,

Halifax,

Hartlepools,

Heckmondwike,

Manchester,

Huddersfield,

Mirfield,

Hull,

Morley,

Ipswich,

Newcastle,

Sunderland,

Italian Chamber,

Newport,

Swansea,

Jersey,

Nice (British Chr.),

Torquay,

Keighley,

N. Shields,

Trowbridge,

Kendal,

N. Staffordshire,

Kidderminster,

Norwich,

Lancaster,

Nottingham,

Leeds,

Oldham,

Leicester,

Ossett,

Leith,

Paris (British Chr.),

Limerick,

Plymouth,

Lincoln,

Liverpool,

Portsmouth, Reading,

Yeadon,

York,

Llanelly,

Sheweth,

Wakefield, Walsall, Warrington, West Ham, Wolverhampton, Worcester, Woolwich,

That at a recent meeting of the Association held in London on the 5th, 6th, and 7th March, the following resolution was adopted :-

"This Association regards the approaching Colonial Conference as an occasion of a momentous and critical character, as its issue will largely determine the nature of the future relations between the Mother Country and the Colonies. The Association would there- fore pray His Majesty's Government to afford a warm welcome to the Colonial Representatives and so to conduct the negotiations that reciprocal trading within the Empire may be promoted, and as a consequence the ties of sentiment which unite the Mother Country and the Colonies may he supplemented by the equally strong ties of self-interest furnished by reciprocal trading."

In support of this resolution it is respectfully represented :-

>>

That the desire of the Colonies for reciprocal trading with the Mother Country is attested by the resolutions on the subject on the Conference Agenda, and by the action of the Colonies in having spontaneously given to the United Kingdom the advantages of preference, with results satisfactory for the trade of the United Kingdom.

That if trade with the Colonies be fostered, as it might be under a reciprocal arrangement, it will increase in proportion as the Colonies grow in wealth and population.

That as the demands of commerce are regulated by the necessities of nations, the existence of a reciprocal trading arrangement between the United Kingdom and our Colonies would not prejudicially affect trading arrangements between the United Kingdom and foreign

countries.

That as the expenditure of this country is growing faster than its revenue, without prospect of material diminution, it is necessary, in order to redress the balance, that the basis of taxation should be widened, that practical steps towards this end could be advanced by means of an arrangement with our Colonies, which, in addition to providing additional revenue, would tend to promote closer union- commercial and political-among the various parts of the Empire, and strengthen the growing conviction that the interests of all are identical.

Given under the Common Seal of this Association the 12th day of

April 1907.

Parliament Mansions,

(L.8.)

BRASSEY, President.

EDWARD W. FITHIAN, Secretary.

Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W.

93

No. XI.

COASTWISE TRADE.

Resolution of the Colonial Conference of 1902.

"That it is desirable that the attention of the Governments of the Colonies and the United Kingdom should be called to the present state of the navigation laws in the Empire and in other countries, and to the advisability of refusing the privileges of coastwise trade, including trade between the Mother Country and its Colonies and Possessions, and between one Colony or Possession and another, to countries in which the corresponding trade is confined to ships of their own nationality, and also to the laws affecting shipping, with a view of seeing whether any other steps should be taken to promote Imperial trade in British vessels."

(NOTE.-Papers circulated on this subject will be found on pp. 468-193 of [Cd. 3524].)

No. 1.

36019.

The SECRETARY OF STATE to the GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF CANADA. [See No. 14.]

(General, No. 1.)

MY LORD,

Downing Street,

February 16, 1903. I HAVE the honour to transmit to you, to be laid before your Ministers, copy of a resolution passed by the Colonial Conference on the subject of the coasting trade and the laws affecting shipping.

The first part of the resolution, which refers to the advisability of taking action in the direction of refusing permission to carry goods or passengers from one British port to another to the vessels of nations which reserve the privilege of their coasting trade to ships of their own nationality, formed the subject of a motiont of which notice was given on behalf of the Government of New Zealand, and copy of which is enclosed.

So far as I am aware, the only part of His Majesty's Dominions where the coasting trade is at present restricted is in Canada, where the privilege of trading between Canadian ports is restricted to British vessels and to the vessels of countries which open their coasting trade to British vessels. No restriction is, however, placed on trade between Canadian ports and British ports outside Canada, and the resolution contemplates the consideration of the propriety of restricting the coasting trade in the sense not only of trade between ports of a particular colony, but also of the trade between a port of the colony and any other part of the British Dominions.

At present foreign vessels do not engage in the coasting trade of this country in its more limited sense to any appreciable extent, while of the trade between the United Kingdom and His Majesty's Dominions beyond the seas about 10 per cent. only is carried in foreign bottoms.

His Majesty's Government would be glad to receive as full information as your Ministers can give concerning the proportion in the colony under your Government of the coasting trade, either in its narrower or its wider sense, which is carried in foreign ships. I enclose a list of countries which reserve their coasting trade to ships of their own nationality for the information of your Government.

• Printed at page xi of [Cd. 1299], October 1902. Printed at page vii of [Cd. 1299]. See Enclosure 3 in No. 2.