HAVANA TRADE CHARTER

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 146, 2 April 1948, Page 2

HAVANA TRADE CHARTER

Outline by Mr Nash

IMPORT CONTROL “WITHIN CERTAIN RULES”

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, April 1. An outline of the work of the Havana conference on world trade and employment was given by the head of- the New Zealand delegation, Mr W. Nash, Minister of Finance and Customs, on his return by air to-day. He said that so far only the skeleton of the scheme had been made public, and he could present to Parliament a much more detailed account. The charter would come into force when it had been ratified by half the nations that had signed at Havana. '

“I think it is the best thing yet done to organise some rational procedure for the conduct of world peace,” the Minister said. “It is without parallel for the avoidance of economic warfare. If it succeeds, and I think it Will, it will do more to lift living standards everywhere, not only here, than any previous conference has done.”

Mr Nash said there were present at the conference delegates representing 58 countries, doing among them more than 90 per cent, of the world’s trade. Notable absentees were the Soviet Union and some of her associated countries, but Czechoslovakia was represented, and so was Poland, although Poland did not sign the agreement. Purposes of Conference The main purposes of the conference were to achieve increased prosperity, to establish a code of international commercial practice, and to create the international trade organisation necessary to these ends. In his opinion the agreement would increase world trade to the extent that it extended the productivity of various countries, and as this productivity grew so would New Zealand’s markets. The conference aimed at achieving a balanced expanding world economy by raising the demand fop goods, increasing productivity, and facilitating exchange. Special provision was made for under-developed countries by guaranteeing them knowledge and materials. Another important side to the work of the conference was the achievement of the principle of multilateral most-favoured-nation trading. Mr Nash said the operation of the agreement would not mean the end of preferences between New Zealand and Britain, nor would it eliminate the Dominion’s policy of import control. He said the agreement hack been Worked out within commercial practice. It was agreed that New Zealand could continue to grant preferences to Britain. Moreover, although the agreement could appear to conflict with import control, there was provision for this to be continued within certain rules. “World Producing Less’ ' “People are not yet, realising sufficiently that the world is producing less than it was 10 years ago, and that there are now 10 per cent, more people. in the world,” Mr Nash said. “The world’s population has gone up by 200,000,000 people, but production has declined, and this is the point that should be appreciated.” . Among the main clauses debated and incorporated in the agreement were those relating to most-favoured-nation treatment, the reduction of tariffs and trade barriers, and the eventual elimination of quantitative restrictions. Other important items were those covering the provision of standardised customs throughout the world, and an arrangement by which subsidies would not be used to sell goods overseas at prices below domestic values in the country of origin. This last clause, he added, would not interfere with New Zealand’s guaranteed price ' system- , . ~ The Minister said that whde an the United States he had visited a Texas newsprint plant where paper was made from pine similar to that growing in New Zealand. He was especially interested because of the possibility of newsprint being manufactured in New Zealand.