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GRAZIERS SUGGEST
OTTAWA REVIEW
The Graziers' Federal Council of Australia has
asked the Federal Government to press for a
review of the system of Imperial preference.
Announcing this yesterday,
the secretary of the Pastoralists'
Association of W.A. (Mr. H. R.
C. Adkins) said that the coun
cil's president had indicated
that there was no intention in
the move to destroy the struc
ture of Empire trade.
As, however, 20 years had
elapsed since the Ottawa con
ference, an overhaul of the
whole system was overdue.
The Ottawa decisions were
reached when the world was
undergoing a severe depression.
Although the whole situation
had changed since, Imperial
preference had been blindly re
tained without analysis of the
need and reasons.
Producers had cause to ques
tion it in recent years in that it
had added greatly to the cost
of importing farm machinery
add other essential pastoral sup
plies.
One-Sided
It appeared that the direct ad
vantages of Imperial preference
were one-sided because it
applied only to wine, sugar and
dried fruits in the British mar
ket.
On the other hand the pre
ponderance of imports from
Britain in the Australian mar
ket was worth many million
pounds to British exporters.
The council, said Mr. Adkins,
believed it was possible that Im
perial preference was providing
a shelter that was removing
Empire trade frQm the realities
of world trade.
It might be that the agreement
was placing Australia at an eco
noruc disadvantage.
There were important implica
tions for Australia in the con
tinued existence of the British
Empire as a strong economic
unit and Imperial preference
might have no small bearing on
this strength.
However, such considerations
should not lead to a blind ac
ceptance of a tariff system that
had developed without any
thorough review since 1932.
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