§ Viscount Hinchingbrookeasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies which Colonies have expressed approval at the suggestion that the system of Imperial Preference shall be discarded; and which Colonies have declared in favour of elimination of the preferences in which they are individually interested.
Mr. Creech JonesThe suggestion that the system of Imperial Preference should be discarded has not been put to the Colonial Governments, and accordingly they have had no opportunity of expressing approval or disapproval. Nor has the time yet arrived when those Governments can usefully be asked whether they are agreeable to individual preferences being reduced or eliminated. As has been frequently pointed out, this will be dependent on the negotiation of international agreements which will effectively increase world trade and so give wider markets to Colonial producers than they at present enjoy.