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Commonwealth Trade
Conference Ends
More than 150 delegates from 12 member countries of
the British Commonwealth yesterday ended a five-day confer
ence to promote, freer world trade between the Common
wealth and other nations.
They were attending the
20th triennial congress of the
Federation of British Com
monwealth Chambers of
Commerce.
At the final plenary session,
the Congress, chaired by
Lord Balfour of Inchiye,
passed resolutions covering
restrictive trade practices,
dumping, co-operation be
tween European trading bloc
members^ international com
modity price stabilisation, the
strength of wool in the Com
monwealth's economy, impli
cations of the European
Common Market, increased
participation by private en
terprise in the development
of Commonwealth countries
and the problems of under
developed countries.
The resolutions, all but
one of which were adopted
unanimously, will be passed
on to the Governments of
member countries.
Objections
The resolution not unani
mously approved urged the
use of the English language
throughout the Common
wealth. |
Objections to this were
lodged by the two bi-lingual
dominions, South Africa and
Canada, whose delegates ab
stained from voting.
The Congress carried a
general policy resolution on
ifreer trade supporting the
("principle of closer economic
co-operation in regions where
this is considered beneficial
Drovided that the establish
ment of regional trade blocs
is based on the rules of
GATT.,t
The resolution . added that
this applied to the European
Common Market ("Inner
Six") and the European Free
Trade Area ("Outer Seven").
A report by the Economic
Co - operation Committee,
adopted by Congress, stated
that unless the gap between
the "Inner Six" and the
"Outer Seven" was satisfact
orily bridged, trade discrim
ination in" Europe might be
intensified.
The report said this could
lead to trade wars, which
would result in a reduction in
the volume of international
trade, with world-wide ad
verse effects.
It urged that all avenues he
explored for drawing the
"Inner Six" and the "Outer
Seven" into closer and cor
dial relations to form a wider
trade area in which countries
not in either group would not
be.discriminated against.
Counter
The Congress called for
energetic efforts to foster a
fuller flow of Commonwealth
trade to counter the growing
threat to intra-Commonwealth
trade of the emergence of
state-trading or bilateral ar
rangements .... between ' Com
munist countries and mem
bers of the Commonwealth.
It added that chambers of
commerce should encourage
businessmen to exercise full
awareness of the conse
quences of political policies
upon trade and to the best of
their collective abilities work
to safeguard a full and
healthy flow of intra-Com
monwealth trade.
Dealing with wool, the
Congress said that because of
the contribution of wool to
the financial strength of the
Commonwealth and Empire
every effort should be made
to achieve Commonwealth
action for "the recognition of
wool's importance.
Tribute
The director of the As
sociated Chambers of Com
merce, Mr. Roy Rowe, was
congratulated for his success
ful staging of the conference, .
the biggest ever held in Aus
tralia.
-The leader of the Aus
tralian delegation, Mr. Ian
Connell, paid him an unusual
tribute by forgoing his own
right as official host to reply
to the vote of thanks, calling
instead on Mr. Rowe.
Lord Balfour said Mr.
Rowe's unremitting work
over the past 12 months had
assured the success of the
congress.
Mr. Rowe wa$ presented
with a travelling clock, and
other members of his staff
received special gifts.
Most of the 91 overseas
delegates who attended the
Congress will leave to-day for
brief interstate visits before
returning to their own coun
tries this month.
A walking stick made of
wood from the rare Western
Australian "Curly Jam" was
presented to Lord Balfour.
Making the presentation,
Mr. Connell tola Lord Bal
four that only four other
walking sticks had been made
from the "Curly Jam" tree,
which was found only In
Western Australia.
They had been presented
to the late King George VT,
the Duke of Gloucester, the
late Lord Gowrie and Field
Marshal Viscount Mon
gomery.
The "Curly Jam" tree !s so
named because of its curly
grain and its sap, which has a
smell similar to strawberry
jam.
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