QUESTION OF CONTINUED MEMBERSHIP OF THE IMPERIAL ECONOMIC COMMITTEE AND OF THE IMPERIAL SHIPPING COMMITTEE

1. In November, 1933, the Oireachtas approved the recommendations contained in the Report of the Imperial Committee on Economic Consultation and Co-operation, 1933. This involved liability on the part of this country for an annual contribution at the rate of 4% of £24,000, viz., £960, for a period of three years, commencing on the 1st October, 1933, and ending on the 30th September, 1936. Of this amount, £888 was borne on the Vote for Industry and Commerce in respect of :

   (a)	Imperial Economic Committee	£808
   (d)	Imperial Shipping Committee	80
   	Total	£888

   The balance of £72 was in respect of the Executive Council of the Imperial Agricultural Bureaux and was accordingly borne on the Vote for Agriculture, thus increasing the annual provision in that Vote for these Bureaux to £872. An outline of the constitution and functions of the two Committees is contained in an Annex to this memorandum¹.
2. The Government, on the 24th November, 1936, decided that, pending an anticipated review of the work of the Imperial Economic Committee and the Imperial Shipping Committee by the Commonwealth Conference to be held in 1937, Ireland should continue a member of the Committees at the existing rates of contribution.
3. The Government, on the 12th March, 1937, approved of the payment of annual contributions totalling £1,125 per annum for the five years from the 1st April, 1937 to the 31st March, 1942, to organisations under the control of the Imperial Agricultural Bureaux. In those contributions, which will be borne on the Vote for Agriculture, is merged the sum of £72, referred to in Paragraph 1, and previously paid by that Department. The Government have also sanctioned the payment of an annual contribution of £93.15.0 for the first five years to a proposed Imperial Forestry Bureau under the control of the Imperial Agricultural Bureaux. This latter contribution will be borne on the Vote for Lands.
4. Contributions due by Ireland to the Imperial Economic Committee and the Imperial Shipping Committee have been paid to the 31st March, 1938.
5. The work of the two Committees mentioned was examined by the Commonwealth Conference held in May, 1937, which approved of the continuance of the Committees as then constituted, with the modification that the annual fund of the Imperial Economic Committee in respect of the five-year period from the 1st April, 1938 to the 31st March, 1943 should be increased from £20,200 to £22,000, making a total annual contribution to both Committees for the period £24,000, as compared with £22,200 previously. The Conference also approved of the continuance of the scales of contributions laid down in 1933. The annual contribution which would be due by Ireland to the Committees in question during the period from the 1st April, 1938 to the 31st March, 1943, in the event of the Government agreeing to continued membership, would, therefore, be at the rate of 4% of £24,000, viz., £960, divided as follows:

   (a)	Imperial Economic Committee	£880
   (d)	Imperial Shipping Committee	80
   	Total	£960

   This amount would be borne on the Vote for Industry and Commerce.
6. The decision taken by the Government on the 24th November, 1936, covers Ireland's membership of the Committee referred to for the period up to the 31st March, 1938. The decision of the Government is now sought as to whether this country is to continue a member of the Committees after that date.
7. In so far as the Department of Industry and Commerce is concerned, the direct and positive advantage derived from the contribution to the Imperial Economic Committee and the Imperial Shipping Committee has not been strong, though the Minister for Industry and Commerce recognises that the work of these Committees probably has a beneficial effect on the development of our export trade and may have some importance from the point of view of the development of aviation here. He considers, however, that the question of continued membership should be decided rather from the viewpoints of the Ministers for Agriculture² and External Affairs³.
8. The Minister for Agriculture considers that, from the point of view of his Department, an adequate return is obtained for the expenditure involved by membership of the Imperial Economic Committee, and he has recommended that this country should continue to be a member of the Committee and should undertake to pay thereto, in respect of the five years from the 1st April, 1938 to the 31st March, 1943, an annual contribution based on the total annual contribution recommended by the Commonwealth Conference, 1937.
9. The High Commissioner for Ireland in London has pointed out that, by reason of this country's membership of the Imperial Economic Committee, State Departments, Chambers of Commerce, and Universities in Ireland receive, apart from occasional publications by the Committee, free issues of weekly, monthly, and annual publications to the value of about £250 a year, while, in addition, about 60 creameries save a total of about £210 a year on their subscriptions to the weekly Dairy Produce Notes. He has also pointed out that frequent and helpful references are made by his Office to the material issued by the Committee, as well as applications for information on special subjects.
10. The Minister for External Affairs has intimated that, as the Minister for Agriculture and the representative of this country on the Imperial Economic Committee are satisfied that an adequate return is received for the payment of our contribution, he concurs in the reconsideration of the Minister for Agriculture in regard to continued membership of the Committee.
11. The Minister for Finance⁴ has no objection to this country's continuing to be a member of the Imperial Economic Committee and of the Imperial Shipping Committee after the 31st March, 1938, and to its undertaking to pay, in respect of the five-year period commencing on the 1st April, 1938 and ending on the 31st March, 1943, an annual contribution based on the total contribution recommended by the Commonwealth Conference, 1937, viz., £960.
12. The Minister for Industry and Commerce agrees with the proposal that membership of the Imperial Economic Committee and of the Imperial Shipping Committee should be continued after the 31st March, 1938, and the formal sanction of the Government for the proposal is now sought.