RESTRICTION ON TRADE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 93, 20 April 1932, Page 4

RESTRICTION ON TRADE.

STRANGULATION PROCESS. An article in the "Economist" states that recent events underline the warning of the Economic Committee of 'the League of Nations against the evil consequences of the growing interference with the flow of international trade. Hardly a day passes without the imposition in some country of new restrictions in the form ot foreign exchange control, increased tariffs, the prohibition of certain classes of imports or the limitation of foreign purchases by license. Among the latest additions to the list of these countries is Denmark. According to the law passed by Parliament on January 29, the National Bank will have complete control of foreign exchange transactions and of foreign trade. It will be within the power of .the Minister of Commerce to demand that all credits and investments, including interest due to Danish nationals from abroad, shall be handed over to a special department of the National Bank. Compensation for foreign exchange will be made according to quotations at the Danish Stock .Exchange and for investments at the latest quotation converted into Danish currency. All importers will require a certificate from the National Bank for each transaction. Such permits will only be granted if there is no objection to the importation for reasons of exchange. Similar but slightly less drastic measures have been taken by Czecho-Slovakia, where a commission has been pet up by the Minister of Finance to regulate the importation of a large number of commodities. Without the permission of this body the National Bank of Czecho-Slovakia will be prohibited from handing over foreign exchange for the purchase of any commodity included in this list. Greek importers have just been informed that in future every application to the Bank of Greece has to be accompanied by a certificate from the competent Chamber of Commerce in Greece. These certificates can only be issued if the applicant trades in the goods ordered, if he does not possess stocks out of proportion to his ordinary trading, if the goods are ordered at their normal season, and, lastly, if large stocks do not exist in the country. The "Internaitional Starvation Club" has, indeed, a swelling membership.