PROBLEMS OF EMPIRE.
reason already given we cannot now expect the Colonies to make any substantial direct contribution in money to the defence of the Empire.
The Canadian Preference.The second answer to the question is that the Colonies are prepared to give an effective preference in their own markets to the products of the mother country. To-night your Premier, Mr. Ross, spoke of the desire that the sentiment in favour of the 'Made in Canada' policy should prevail, and that it should be your ambition to supply the wants of the Canadian market. Here is where the difficulty lies.
Now, if this is the desire of the Canadian manufacturers, and the Canadian Government should wish to carry out that desire at the expense of the manufacturer in the mother country, then, in my opinion, there is no basis for a policy of preferential trade within the Empire. The justification for a tax on food-stuffs is that the Colonies will take a larger proportion than they do now of British products. You import at present from the United States and other countries 18,000,000l. worth of goods. 18,000,000l. is not a very large amount in a total export trade of 350,000,000l. Unless the mother country is able to secure a large portion of the trade you now carry on with foreign countries, as well as supply to a considerable extent the needs of the great population which is bound to be created by the adoption of an Imperial preference, there is really no solid answer to the question, 'What will the Colonies do in return?'
This view and the view of the Canadian manufacturers may appear to be diametrically opposed. I believe, however, that a solution will be arrived at as a result of mutual concessions and the free interchange of opinions. Nothing has struck me more forcibly in
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