At the Imperial Conference on Thursday, October 21st, Sir Philip
Cunliffe-Lister, President of the Board of Trade, and Mr. Amery, Secretary for the Dominions, made introductory statements on the economic work of the Conference. Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister said that in the first half of the present year one third of our import' had come from the Empire and nearly half our exPorti had gone to the Empire. In 1913 the proportion of imports from the Empire was 24.87 per cent. and of our exports 37 per cent. He reminded the Conference that the Economic Committee which was appointed in 1925 had already presented four Reports and an Empire larketing Board had been established. He was eon- r1.` laced that this Board would be more effectual in in.- creasing sales of Imperial products than the limited Preferences for which it was substituted. He urged he Conference to consider the possibility of standardizing annfactured goods. If the products of all countries n the Empire could be co-ordinated into an Imperial tandard inter-Imperial trade would be greatly helped. inally Sir Philip suggested that the cinema should not ignored. That " new and all-pervading influence " could be most effective in recommending Imperial goods 11 over the world.
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