CO129-549-14 Commission of Enquiry into trade of Colony 17-7-1934 - 18-1-1935 — Page 56

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the merits of our product.

That is a very valuable asset which

it is our determination to continue to earn.

Whether we are ever accorded fiscal preference,

alongside all other British brewed beers, depends on the future

policy of the Colony. We are a free port, according, for the

most part, equality of opportunity to all nations. Our ideal

position and our harbour facilities have in the past fully

justified our policy of remaining a free port, but now that our free port is surrounded by the barrier reefs of high tariffs and

our great entrepot trade is dwindling, it is at least question-

able whether it is a policy we should rigidly adhere to.

We have excellent facilities for industrial

entreprise, but the difficulties of developing in this direction

are great. The greatest of them is the refusal on the part of

many of the Dominions to treat us as part of the British Empire.

They are ready enough to do so when they want us to buy their

goods, but not so ready when it comes to buying the products of

our factories. Indeed, many of them place us on the same fiscal

footing as Japan. This matter 18, without doubt, receiving the

consideration of the commercial community. There may be good

reasons why we must accept the position, one-sided as it seems,

and remain a free port, but in my opinion we should not turn

down the possibilities of reciprocity, as part of the Empire,

without investigating what can be done in that direction and

weighing up most carefully its advantages and disadvantages. ".....