§ 50. Major PROCTERasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if the Government has formulated a definite Colonial trade policy for submission to the Ottawa Conference; and if he is prepared to make a statement before the Recess?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES (Sir Robert Hamilton)My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies has already said, in his answer of the 27th April to the hon. and gallant Member for the Isle of Wight (Captain P. Macdonald), of which I am sending the hon. and gallant Member a copy, that he has been in consultation with all the Colonial Governments and with representatives in this country of the various Colonial trade interests. As a result of these discussions a number of proposals have already been submitted to the Dominion Governments regarding the grant of preference to the Colonial Empire, and at the same time the Dominion Governments have been invited to state what adjustments of Colonial Customs tariffs would be of real value to them.