IMPORT POLICY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 46, 4 December 1945, Page 5

IMPORT POLICY

CRITICISM EXPRESSED \ (P.A.) WELLINGTON, December 3. A statement was made to-day by the United Kingdom Manufacturers and New Zealand Representatives’ Association in reply to the cabled report oi the Hon. P. 0. Webb’s speech m Great Britain last week, and particularly with reference to that portion in which he stated that “for eveiy pound which Great Britain spent m New Zealand the Dominion would buy a pound’s worth of goods in Britain. The Association stated that it, welcomed this statement by Mr Webb which, it was hoped he would impress upon his colleagues in the Government upon his return to New Zealand. At, the moment the huge sterling balance which this Dominion holds m London was not being expended at anything like the rate at £ for £, and the 1940 import schedule was in direct contradiction to such a reasonable trading policy. “Indeed,” the statement proceeds, “recent information stating that licences will now be granted for the import of tobacco and cigarettes serves to confirm the suspicion that, the New Zealand policy of import control is to make a convenience of Britain rather than to encourage her to do what Mr Webb stated, namely, ‘the sooner Great Britain can get exporting the better for Great Britain and the Dominion.’ It is interesting to note that tobacco and cigarettes have been banned for many years, but now that the manufacturing firms in this Dominion cannot meet the demand a relaxation is permitted in spite of the fact that importation is expressly banned' in the 1946 licensing schedule. Surely this is expediency if ever it was, and the people of Great Britain are entitled to something more than ! expediency and Being made a convenience of—they are asking merely for what Mr Webb has publicly stated—the opportunity to export under fair competitive conditions on the basis of £ for £.”