88

would seem to be no other outlet available in the world; that she has consistently made it easy for those exports to enter her ports on the best possible terms and with the least possible interference by Governmental policy or by customs administration; that she has been eager to give to the Dominions an extensive preference in every case in which she has found it possible to impose a tariff and that she has helped the Dominions to build up a substantial favourable visible balance of trade. It is moreover a source of legitimate satisfaction that the preferential access to the British investment market which has resulted from the close association between the United Kingdom and the Dominions has played an important part in the development of their resources. The extent to which this factor has operated may be gathered from the fact that before the war it was estimated that about one-half of the £3,800 million of British capital invested overseas was placed in Empire countries. Since the war, although there has necessarily been some diminution in the flow of overseas investment the proportion allotted to Empire countries has substantially increased and out of a total of £1,401 million invested between 1919 and 1931, no less than £848 million has found its way to the countries of the Empire. 11. The United Kingdom delegation have no intention of building up a balance sheet or of weighing meticulously the benefits given or received; but they are anxious that the outside world shall realize—what is doubtless present to the minds of all their colleagues at the Conference—that the spirit animating us all has been constantly and consistently displayed in our actual dealings with the Dominions, and that any suggestion that the United Kingdom has been backward in developing or assisting Dominion trade or that the concessions on the side of the Dominions have not been fully reciprocated both in the letter and the spirit, would be wholly unwarranted by the facts. 12. Having dealt with the action which has been taken in the past to further Empire trade and appreciating fully the advantages which have been received in Empire markets, the Representatives of the United Kingdom have entered this Conference with the intention of making their full contribution to a still further extension of Empire trade. They have put frankly and fully to the Dominions the articles on which they desire to secure further advantages in Dominion markets; and they will welcome from the Dominions an equally full statement of the corresponding advantages they seek in the market of Great Britain. 13. The United Kingdom Delegation will approach the examination of these statements as they are received with an unprejudiced mind and indeed with an earnest desire to give effect to the wishes of the Dominions; and they are convinced that in their own views will be given equally favourable consideration. STATEMENT BY THE LEADER OF THE DELEGATION FOR THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA (THE HON. N. C. HAVENGA) RELATING TO THE SUPPLEMENTARY STATEMENT OF THE RT HON STANLEY BALDWIN. (Placed on Record on Saturday the 30th July, 1932.) The Delegation for the Union of South Africa have had the opportunity to consider the very interesting statement prepared by the United Kingdom Delegation, placed on Record on Thursday, the 28th July, 1932. The history of trade relations between the Union and the United Kingdom renders it unnecessary, it is hoped, to again stress the fact which has been made clear in previous conversations with the United Kingdom Delegation that to strike a balance. sheet of advantages and concessions is quite foreign to the minds of this Delegation. But they feel constrained to comment on some of the observations made and deductions drawn by the United Kingdom in the above mentioned statement. These comments are offered, not in a carping and ungenerous spirit, but in a frank effort to see the trade relations between the two countries in their proper perspective. They wish to place it on record that South Africa has never objected to the treatment its commodities have received at the hands of Great Britain; it has neither complained of the spirit manifested by the United Kingdom in matters of trade, nor has it been querulous of the fact that preferential treatment was not always reciprocated. The