The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1933. A PROTEST FROM BRITAIN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 21, 26 January 1933, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1933. A PROTEST FROM BRITAIN.

For thf> cause that lacks assistance, For the ivrong that needs For the future in the distance, And the good that ice can do.

The London office of our newspapers advises that British manufacturers view witi alarm the increase in the exchange rate as nullifying the Ottawa Agreement. They feai a complete dislocation of their trade, and urge that strenuous efforts be made to induce the Government to give an immediate assurance that our mutual interests shall not suffer. No one will be surprised at the consternation that the Government's bombshell has caused at Home!. A month ago British exporters hac 1 the assurance of the Prime Minister that exchange was a matter for the banks, which meant that exchange would be subject to the law of supply and demand, with probabilities of a reduction and no fear of an increase. The suelden reversal of the Government's policy came as a bolt from the blue. Even New Zealand Treasury officials calculate on a fall in imports that will mean a drop of £1,000,000 in Customs revenue. British trade inevitably must suffer serious dislocation and restriction. When will the people of Australia and New Zealand realise that unless they help to keep the wheels of British industry moving there must be a steadily diminishing public with the money to buy their butter cheese and mutton, or to clothe themselves with wool from the Dominions. And in our case, within two months of pledging our word that British manufactures would be placed on a reasonably competitive basis in this country by a careful adjustment and scaling down of tariffs, we have the effrontery to slap an extra 15 per cent on all imports. No one can suppose for one minute that the British Government will not take effective action against such a flagrant breach of faith. It would not be unreasonable if they not only cancelled ail preferences, but also went further and negotiated mutual trade treaties with countries outside the Empire. Then there is the other side of the picture. The past few days have gone far to demonstrate that the benefits to the farming community are certainly temporary and probably largely illusory. In the first place, the producer was not able to ship one box of butter or one bale of avool without the addition of the extra exchange to the already high freights. Most of the supplies that are peculiar to his business immediately advanced in price, and it is only a question of a very short while before the additional charge must be liiore than the 15 per cent, because the extra amount of capital employed in purchase and freight will have to be paid for. Unless it can bo found, bankruptcy will face the ordinary trader, and in the case of a farmers' co-operative concern the amount will have to be deducted from the sales of farmers' produce. It is unfortunately the case that we cannot regulate the price of the world's staple products, and that any action we may take internally to bolster them up must react on our own community; anel iiji the ultimate issue the plight of the unfortunate farmer must pass from bad to worse as his ability to compete in the only markets open to him becomes less, and those markets are gradually destroyed by reason of action mistakenly conceived to kelp him back to a moderate prosperity. The question is, "What is to be done?" The farmer needs help, and everyone is prepared to make sacrifices that he should receive consideration. But a policy that will increase his costs is a negation of first principles, and Parliament should seek other channels than those urgeel by Cabinet.