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International Situation HOUSE OF COMMONS [Mr. Donner.]
side by side with a Germany which can live contentedly in peace, rather than with a Germany that is starving and in despair. Therefore, we ought not to be over-anxious if Dr. Funk's great drive into South Eastern Europe succeeds.
I do not believe we shall lose these markets entirely, for, as the Prime Minister pointed out, many of the countries in South Eastern Europe, many of the Danubian countries, require foreign exchange, and they can obtain it only by trading with Great Britain and France. But just as it is natural for Germany to trade with South Eastern Europe, so it is natural, surely, for us to increase our trade with the Dominions and Colonies. I express the hope and belief that the Munich settlement will represent a new chapter in our history. If it leads to greater German prosperity, that will be a factor on the side of peace. I believe that one of the results of it will be that we shall turn more to our own Dominions and Colonies than in the past, and do our best to extend our trade with them and develop the territories within the British Empire. If that should happen, then even greater good will come of that Agree
ment than we see to-day.
ΟΙ
There is one obstacle which still remains to such progress. I should like to make an appeal for the formation of a small committee
to commission examine the whole question of inter- Imperial trade, because I think that the facts and figures which are really essen- tial to us are missing. What is needed are statistics to show what the Dominions produce and in what quantities and where, how much they sell and to whom they sell it, how much they buy and from where, and lastly what are the transport and communications which are available. If we had those data and statistics, it should not be beyond our capacity to build up a great Imperial trade on a com- plementary and not on a competitive basis of production. If that policy were coupled with a great policy of fostering at home the domestic power of produc- tion, then we should secure
an even
higher standard of living in this country. I believe that by carrying out such a policy we should be able to maintain and increase the standard of living in England.
Before concluding, there is one other aspect to which I wish to draw attention.
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I believe that the solution of many of our economic problems, and many of the economic problems which will face this country after the Munich Agreement, lies in the lesson provided by the example of one man, Lord Nuffield. Let the House consider what has happened in regard to him. We find that a great in- dustry has been built up as a result of the establishment of the McKenna Duties. We see not only an improved article pro- duced for the consumers, but we find that the price has been lowered; and we see that Lord Nuffield has accumulated a great fortune which he has given back to the people. That is the point to which I wish to draw the attention of the House. Not only has he secured much for Oxford economically, but, the great bulk of his fortune has gone back to the people who made it. I suggest that ought to prove
a great lesson to all of us. If we were to recognise that we are faced with im- mensely high tariff barriers all over the world and that there is little or nothing that we can do to reduce many of those barriers, and sell in those markets denied to us to-day, and if we accepted those conditions and facts and heightened our own tariffs and made greater use of them,
by protecting ourselves, we could create a higher standard of employment and living in England.
Mr. Dingle Foot: Is that part of the policy of appeasement?
Mr. Donner: Yes, it is. I believe that if one took, over the last five years, an average of the profits of all companies in England-index them individually, for the sake of argument, at 100-and in- creased the protection for those industries, one could estimate quite easily the in- creased profits produced by the higher tariffs, and if one were to return that extra profit in the shape of, say, 10 per cent. to the State, for giving the benefit of the tariff, 10 per cent. to the share- holders, 30 per cent. for the renewal of equipment and machinery, and 50 per cent. to the people who created it, not only would it create a higher standard of living and greater employment in this country, but it would create a new spirit of co-operation between the Government and the employers and the employés.
Mr. Foot: I do not follow the hon. Member's argument. He was arguing a little earlier in his speech that it was in our interests to do what we could to
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International Situation I NOVEMBER 1938 raise the standard of living and increase the prosperity of Germany, and I gather of other European countries. Does he suppose that a steep increase in our own tariffs would conduce to that end?
Mr. Donner: I do. I explained at the beginning of my speech that I believe that the natural expansion of German trade is in South-Eastern European, just as the natural expansion of English trade lies, in the first instance, in fostering the domestic power
of production, and secondly, in increasing trade with the Dominions and Colonies on the lines I have suggested. If a policy on those lines were carried out, I believe it would create a new spirit of national unity and of good will and co-operation among the working people of this country. Such a policy could be carried out simultaneously with the Prime Minister's policy of appease- I believe we should make it plain that we are not prepared to fight in Europe or anywhere else except in a cause more essential, more vital and more important to the interests of this country than is the maintenance of peace itself to this country, and by fostering such a spirit at home, by stimulating trade within the Empire, this country would be able to look forward to a great, happy and peaceful future.
ment.
6.40 p.m.
Mr. Muff: We meet to-day in circum- stances different from those in which we met a month ago. Then it was a day of tension, and when Ministers and the Front Opposition Bench came in at 2.45 for prayers, one Member said: Are things as bad as that? " We wished the Prime Minister Godspeed when he went to Munich, and when he came back I told my constituents that I was glad of the respite. Representing as I do the vul- nerable city of Hull, with its teeming population, I contemplated with horror what would happen to Hull and to London in the event of war. I was glad of the Agreement, but since then I have found myself saying, as did our great weekly humorous magazine, that it was a peace we were glad of, but not very proud of. I suggest to the Prime Minister that the German Government have badly let him down by not showing a more accommodating spirit and greater magnanimity. They have made his posi- tion and that of the Government more difficult. Although the House may
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International Situation
wonder what that matters to a Labour Member, I feel that as long as the right hon. Gentleman is Prime Minister, and as long as he was doing what he thought was right in his policy of appeasement, the Fuhrer might have behaved better than he has done, especially to Czecho- slovakia.
as
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I suppose that I am the only Hussite Member of the House. I am rather proud to be what is known as a Moravian Brother. The Hussites owe their inspira- tion to a man whose memory we honour in St. Stephen's Hall, John Wyclif. In Czechoslovakia there are both Sudetens and Czechs. As a result of the persecu- tion which these people, especially the Czechs, have suffered in Sudetenland, I feel that it was the duty of the German Government to stand by Article VII, which was signed by the Fuhrer as well by the Prime Minister, Signor Mussolini and M. Daladier. We have a right to complain. Moreover, the Ger- man Government are missing a great op portunity by not implementing the large measure of good will which was created when the feeling of revulsion at the prospect of war was turned into a feeling of gladness when the respite came. If the logists, I suggest they have made a grave German Government possess any psycho-
mistake in not making better use of the opportunity which came their way by im- plementing Article VII, by which they promised to give Sudeten, Czech and Jew the option of saying where they wished to live. The German Government have not made our position easier by the expulsion of thousands of Jews. If the Fuhrer had wanted sincerely to help the British Prime Minister and to save him from the criti- cism of his own party in the country, he could have done so. I have spent the last five weeks in defending the Prime Minister against Conservatives. In- cidentally, I am glad to say that some of those Conservatives are going to vote Labour at the next election but that is by the way.
I speak in general terms because I do not wish to be personal, but the German Government is making the position of this country more difficult because of this per- secution of minorities and especially of the Jews. At the same time there is an insidious movement against this country, a sneering at the English people and state- ments are made publicly to the effect that we are persecuting the Arabs in Palestine.
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