Ireland To-day
From. Mr. Cosgrave, President of the Executive - Council of the Itish Free State TT will be better, on all grounds, that I should talk of 1. more fundamental activities than politics ; and invite .those who read these lines to consider, apart from sentiment, the material aspects of those ties between these two islands which it is to the undisputed advantage of both to develop and strengthen.
The place occupied by the Irish Free State in the list of Britain's customers is not sufficiently appreciated by British manufacturers. Between them, Great Britain and Northern Ireland take from us ninety-three per cent. of all the goods we send out, and from them we purchase seventy-eight per cent. of those requirements which are not produced at home. In the year 1928 we stand fifth on the list of total values of purchases, and with the exception of New Zealand our imports per head from Great Britain are the highest of any country in the world.
Compared.with most European countries we are under- developed from the industrial point of view. One of the biggest tasks which confronts us is that of developing our industrial production so as to secure a suitable economic balance between it and our agricultural production. This economic balance is indispensable if We are to increase our purchasing capacity. Many of our industries arc in their infancy and have to be protected in the early stages of their development. Such tariffs, as after careful examination we have decided to impose, have been de- signed solely with this end in view. They are not bargaining tariffs ; they are not directed against any outside State. - I realize that it is somewhat difficult for the average man who does not know conditions in the Irish Free State to- appreciate at all times the motives which inspire our decisions. England has had a tradition of Government with its hundreds of years of precedent and more or less settled industrial policy. Its commercial and industrial progress have kept pace with its political growth. On this side we have had in the last eight years to create our Insti- tutions of State ; to inculcate respect for them ; to make up for many years of semi-stagnation in our agricultural and 'manufacturing methods.
The system of Imperial preference naturally gives Great Britain a considerable advantage against her competitors in the Irish market. The surest method of enhancing Ireland's power to absorb British exports is that British consumers should hi their purchasing give a preference to Irish produce. We are perfectly well aware that this will not happen unless our output is at least up to the level of the produce of foreign competitors, but we claim That over a wide field this is already so.
I have avoided sentiment. But; as a matter of business, if good customers make good friends, it is just as true that good friends are disposed to be good customers. I desire in all sincerity to see the relations between our countries such that when either buys from the other, the buyer should have the pleasant feeling of helping a friend's trade. It is our aim to give Great Britain of the best, and we wish to see the British 'people in a position to buy largely of the best. Taking both sides of the account together, we recognize that if only because you are our best customers your misfortune is our misfortune yet we &Mid like you to recognize that, though we may be less. important' to you than you to us, nevertheless the converse is equally true.
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