VI.-Relationship of the Committee with the Empire Marketing Board. 14. Neither the functions nor the position of the Imperial AppointEconomic Committee will have been made clear without ment of the Empire reference to its relationship to the Empire Marketing Board. Marketing In their first or "General" report the Committee recommended Board. that the £1,000,000 a year which it was proposed should be voted by Parliament in the United Kingdom, should be administered by an Executive Commission which should carry out those of their recommendations which apply specially to the United Kingdom. The Committee hoped that, though this Commission would owe responsibility to the British Parliament, would be devised whereby the views of Oversea Governments of the Empire may, from time to time, be brought to bear in an advisory way on the problems involved." 66 means 15. His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom accepted these recommendations in principle and in May, 1926, established an organisation presided over by the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs, who is responsible to the British Parliament for the expenditure of the annual grant of £1,000,000, and appointed an official non-political body, under the title of the Empire Marketing Board, to advise him in the administration of that fund. The membership of the Board. was so arranged that, though limited for the sake of efficiency, no part of the Empire was left unrepresented. Thus has been secured that association with Oversea opinion which the Imperial Economic Committee recommended. All the oversea members on the Board and two of those from Great Britain are at present, or have recently been, members of the Imperial Economic Committee. members of the Empire 16. The Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs is Chairman Method of of the Empire Marketing Board which is composed of certain appointing Ministers ex officio and of members nominated by the Secretary of State in consultation with the Chairman of the Imperial Marketing Economic Committee (vide-Answer in the Parliament of the Board. United Kingdom on March 31st, 1926). 17. The two bodies thus described-the Imperial Economic Status of Committee and the Empire Marketing Board-are therefore the Imperial distinct and differ functionally and constitutionally. Economic ship with The Imperial Economic Committee is an Imperial body in and relationthe sense that it owes its authority to resolutions adopted at the the Empire Imperial Conference; that it is constituted of members appointed Marketing by the several Governments of the Empire; and that it reports Board. to the Governments of the Empire on the several subjects referred to it by them. The Empire Marketing Board, on the other hand, is a body appointed by one of His Majesty's Ministers in the United Kingdom-namely, the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs Membership of the Imperial Economic Committee. The policy of -to advise him in the administration of the annual Vote of £1,000,000 granted by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. None the less the Imperial Economic Committee and the Empire Marketing Board are, in fact, closely related, partly because it happens that certain gentlemen are members of both bodies, and partly because the Empire Marketing Board is charged with the endeavour to give effect within the terms of its Vote to many of the recommendations of the Imperial Economic Committee. PART II. VII.-The Work of the Imperial Economic Committee. 18. The Imperial Economic Committee have now been at work somewhat under three years and, except during the usual recesses, sit once a week in full Committee. In addition there are several Sub-Committees. Both scientific and business-men and those engaged in public administration have generously placed their knowledge and experience at the disposal of the Committee. The fact that each principal part of the Empire is represented by at least two members has rendered it possible for some members to serve for several years and so enable the Committee to build up a tradition and for others to be appointed for short terms so as to bring to the Committee special knowledge fresh from overseas. In some cases, as in those of Sir Mark Sheldon and Mr. Clifford from Australia, advantage was taken of the presence in London of distinguished visitors from overseas to nominate them to the Committee for the time being; in other cases, as, for instance, in those of Mr. McOuat and Mr. Cowie from Canada, gentlemen with specialist knowledge were sent over for the express purpose of participating in inquiries into specific subjects. The Committee have also derived benefits from the tours which several of the members have made to portions of the Empire overseas-notably those of the Chairman, the Rt. Hon. Sir Halford Mackinder, Sir Sydney Henn, M.P., Sir Thomas Allen, Sir Edward Davson, Mr. F. N. Blundell, M.P., and Mr. J. Dimond. These gentlemen have also used the opportunity, furnished by their visits, to make the functions and general purpose of the Committee better known. 19. At an early stage of their inquiries the Committee came to certain conclusions which they embodied in their "General" report. They began that report by calling attention to the increasing relative importance of the markets for British goods in the Empire overseas, and drew the conclusion that the right policy was to stimulate further the development of those Empire markets. The young nations of British race are obviously disposed by tradition and taste to demand the kind of goods produced by British industry, and the same is true by custom of the communities of other races which are associated with the British Commonwealth of Nations. Apart from slow natural growth, the development of the Empire nations is a matter of men and money, or, in other words, of the transfer of population and capital from the "Old Country Old Country" to the Dominions and of experience and capital to the other parts of the Empire. But the speedy result of such application of man power and capital to the development of the oversea Empire must be a demand for markets wherein to dispose of the increased produce resulting. The Committee therefore proceeded to argue that by purchasing goods produced in the oversea Empire in preference to those imported from foreign countries it is in the power of the people of the Old Country to offer an increased market for Empire produce, and that in so doing they would be dealing preferentially with those who dealt preferentially with them. The stimulus thus given to production in the oversea Empire would lead to a diversion of the flow of men and capital to the Empire in preference to foreign countries and thus to the more rapid growth of those very peoples, kin to or allied with Britain, which are most disposed to demand the products of British industry. Thus by action and reaction the Home Country and the Empire overseas would build up one another. This process, moreover, would continue when, as was inevitable, industry and not merely primary production took root in the Empire overseas. It would be a long time before the more complicated industries, demanding widespread markets, could be effectively established in the newer or less developed countries, and the growth of the simpler industries in them would only increase the demand for the products of the higher industries of the United Kingdom. The desirable condition would follow of a relatively more rapid growth of the Empire overseas combined with a continued growth of the United Kingdom. Finally, since the best customers of home industries are the home consumers at their doors, of whom the British farmers form an important section, this theory leads to the sequence of preferences in buying-home first, then the oversea Empire, and thirdly foreign countries. The economic argument is reinforced by the argument from sentiment, itself the product of history and political interest. 20. Thus the Committee were led to recommend the now widely accepted policy of Voluntary Preference. But from the first they saw that the success of this policy would depend on bilateral action. On the one hand the purchaser in the "Old Country" must be convinced of the desirability of exercising a preference in favour of Empire goods, or, in other words, the housewife must be led to realise that, in buying Empire. produce, she is building up employment for her husband and sons, and on the other hand, the producer in the Empire, both in the United Kingdom and overseas, must be led to appreciate the fact that he cannot expect the exercise of a preference in Need for education and publicity. his favour, if his goods will not stand competition in regard to price, quality and quantity, or in other words, that he has no right to ask the housewife to lay out the family money except to the best advantage of her husband and children. The problem is to secure the maximum ultimate employment compatible with the best immediate expenditure of money. 21. The Committee concluded-" That the time is ripe for a national effort to stimulate the consumption of Empire produce in the United Kingdom "-and that this could be effected by the exercise of voluntary preference by the British consumer. They based this conclusion on their belief that "as between goods of the same quality and price the consumer would undoubtedly select Empire produce if he could recognise it, and said that their policy of voluntary preference seeks to translate this latent feeling into a practical scheme under State guidance and on a scale commensurate with the productive facilities of the Empire. The scheme rests on the free will of the individual citizen as consumer. In proportion as he is convinced of the wisdom of the underlying principles will the movement be effectual. But there is freedom also on the side of the producer, be he British or foreign, and there is nothing in the proposal to destroy individual enterprise or competition. On the contrary, an ever-increasing efficiency is postulated if the producers within the Empire are to hold their own with the producers outside." 22. Thus, to render voluntary preference effective three things were necessary : (i) That the consumer should be induced to select Empire goods; (ii) That he should be able to recognise Empire goods; and (iii) That Empire goods should be adequate in supply and quality, and reasonable in price. 23. In regard to the first of these requirements, the Committee were definitely of opinion that effective education and publicity would be required to turn into regular custom that latent preference for Empire produce which they believed to exist. But it would require publicity of a peculiar type. Not the publicity which is the concern of the trader and brings to the notice of the consumer the products of particular firms, but continuous publicity on a national scale spreading the idea of demanding Empire produce," and in a later report, that on the Marketing of Fruit, the Committee developed their ideas on publicity. They there recorded their opinion that the publicity recommended to be undertaken by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom in favour of the consumption of Empire produce, should be on a high plane and on a national basis. Its object would be to make the people in the United Kingdom realise the economic importance to themselves of the British Empire. The appeal would not merely be to sentiment, but would demonstrate the close connection between. the consumption of Empire goods and the expansion of Empire markets for goods produced in the United Kingdom. goods. 24. In regard to the second of the requirements enunciated in Recognition paragraph 22 above-recognition of Empire goods-it happened of Empire that in 1926 a Bill had been drafted, in the interests of British industry, for the amendment of the Merchandise Marks Act. As a result of the recommendations in the "General" report of the Committee, it was decided to include in this Bill also the marking of agricultural produce for which the English Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries had been pressing, but with the addition of power to distinguish the produce of the oversea Empire from foreign produce. The Bill so extended became law in 1926. It is now possible for parties interested in particular products to move for an enquiry with a view to obtaining an Order in Council that the marking of the origin of those products should be made obligatory. under the Merchandise Marks Act. It may be useful here to state the procedure under the new Procedure Act. When such an enquiry is about to be made, notice to that effect is published in the London, Edinburgh, and Belfast Gazettes and in the Board of Trade Journal. A copy is communicated at the same time to the Press. This notice invites those interested to communicate with the Secretary of the Standing Committee appointed under the Merchandise Marks Act to enquire into the application. A further similar notice is issued in the same way by the Standing Committee as soon as the date of each enquiry is fixed. Producers and traders, whether in the United Kingdom or in the oversea parts of the Empire. whose interests are likely to be substantially affected by the result of such an enquiry, should take the opportunity thus provided of asking to be heard. Empire produce. 25. In regard to the third of the requirements-adequacy of Importance supply the Committee emphasized that" responsibilities as well of adequacy of supply of as privileges accompany the identification of produce. The consumer, however well disposed to buy Imperially, cannot in the vast majority of cases afford to do so, unless satisfied in regard to price and quality. Identification of produce at time of retail sale would involve constant attention to better grading, packing and presentation of goods, if it were to redound to the advantage of the producer. Yet excellence of quality alone would be insufficient. There must also be regularity and continuity of supply. It is clear that publicity undertaken in respect to foodstuffs which are irregular in supply and insufficient in quantity can only cause disappointment and dissatisfaction." The obligation to prevent such dissatisfaction and disappointment rests primarily on the producers, but the Committee recognised that there were many problems associated with the production and transport of foodstuffs which could only be solved by organised scientific research. They therefore recommended that greater |