Page image
Page image

27

A.—6a

of her exports to the United Kingdom-, and that, as I have said, is a, fact which we in India have; always to bear in mind. I neiw wish to firing out a striking fact regarding India's imports. As every one knows, we make no discrimination in our import duties: At present our tariff is purely a revenue tariff, and it is the' same for all. Nevertheless, India is by far Britain's best customer. She takes a greater proportion of her imports from the United Kingelom than any other Dominion. Her imports from Britain in the last three years have averaged annually 129 millions sterling. That is, she has bought in this period from the Uniteei Kingdom as much as the three great Dominions of Canada, Australia, and South Africa combined. It is a noteworthy fact, sir, that this great trade is the result solely of the millions of British capital spent in India, eif long-established and very perfect trade shipping and banking connections, and of careful study of the requirements of the Indian market. Most of these imports are manufactures, and in spite eif the elifficulty with which he has to contend the British manufacturer has practically recovered his pre-war predominance: in this part of India's markets. Before the war he- supplied 76 per cent, eif India's purchases of manufactured articles ;in the year ending March last he supplied 73 per cent. Ami this wonderful result has been attained by what is, after all, the main thing in business—namely, perfect organization and strict attention to economy in production, New Development Schemes. But it may be said, sir, " That is true- India, is already buying much—but cannot she: buy more ? " I have no elifficulty, sir, in answering that question. I have just explained our financial position and have pointed out that we have recently had drastically to cut down the; cost of our administration. But every thinking person in India is agreed that what India wants is a bold constructive programme of development in order that full use may be made of her great resources. Large sums have been set aside for the rehabilitation of her railways, and I hope that we may be able to embark on some new construction. On railway material alone we spent last year, almost entirely in this country, more than eight and a half millions sterling. Other development schemes are: in contemplation, anel. in one way and another the Government estimated that something like seventy millions sterling will be spent on imported stores during the next five years for the railways and the other development schemes. As in the past, se» in the future, I have no doubt that the skill and enterprise of the British manufacturer will see to it, that the va,st bulk of their moneys will be spent in this country, J have tried to bring out a few points which are: of significance from India's point of view, and which I hope are. relevant to the dlibeerarions of this Conference, and I. will not detain the Conference. I stand for India, of course, We all of us stand for the; country we represent. But I ha.ye no doubt, sir, that India's interests will be founel to coincide very largely with those of this country and of the Empire, anel it, is with the; idea of exploring all possible points of agreement that, we arc here to-day. I must thank you. sir. and, the others present here for giving me so patient, a hearing, and I should like cordially to join, on behalf of India, in the hopes that have been expressed of the benefits that will flow from this Conference for our respective: countries and for England anel the; Empire;. OPENING SPEECH BY MR. ORMSBY-GORE. In saying a few words on behalf of the colonies and protectorates 1 would like: to emphasize the fact that in so doing a further new precedent is being set. This is the first occasion in the history of these Conferences that a special representative has been separately detailed to present the views of those othe:r possessions of the British Crown which together with Great Britain, the six self-governing Dominions, and India make up the complete British Empire. Size and Importance of Colonies, Protectorates, and Mandated Territories. The colonies, protectorates, and mandated territories, in whose: name 1 speak, comprise an area of about two million square miles, and contain a population of over fifty millions. Of these, appioximately forty millions are of African race. With the; exception of Gibraltar, Malta, Cyprus, Palestine, Bermuda, anel the Falkland Islands, the whole of these territories lie; in a belt round the' globe wholly within the Tropics of Cance:r ?,nd Capricorn. Our oldest and most historic colonial possessions, with the, single exception of Newfounelland, are; in the West indies. Parallel with them lie the four important West African dependencies, of which. Nigeria,, with its twenty millions of people, ranks after India and Great Britain as third in population of all the countries of the' Empire. In East and Centra] Africa we have a, continuous belt eif territory from the Upper Nile to the Zambesi confided to our direction anel development, containing a. population of twelve millions. Eastward again, we have the; islands of Mauritius, the Seychelles, anel Ceylon. Them the Malay Peninsula and Hong Kong. Eastward again Fiji ami the groups of islands in the Southern Pacific. To Great Britain and the: self-governing Dominions that lie: within the: tetnporate zones this belt of treqiical possessions is becoming of ever-increasing importance, both as the main and most secure source of supply of essential raw materials, and as a steadily developing market for manufactured goods and those other raw materials and foodstuffs, such as wheat, which are not producible in the tropics, If we could but increase the production for export of this fifty millions of people by £1 per head we should not only obtain fifty millions meire of materials that Great Britain and the Dominions alike: require, but at the same time create an additional purchasing-power for gooels which we in the temperate zones and in our factories can provide. Growing Need for Mutual Economic Inter-dependence within the Empire. An Imperial Economic Conference that merely concerns itself with the- economic relations and 'commerce of Great Britain on the one hand and the self-governing Dominions on the other would be

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert