The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1939. MR. NASH EXPLAINS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 21, 26 January 1939, Page 10

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

THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1939. MR. NASH EXPLAINS.

For the cause that lacks an»i*tavce. For the trrong that needs resistanoa. For the future in the distance. And the good that we can do.

There has been much discussion as to the renl purpose of the Government's export, import find exchange control, and one of the reasons which led to the large gathering of importers in Wellington was the desire for and, indeed, the urgent necessity of, an authoritative and clarifying statement. Mr. Nash provided it yesterday, and it must have given cold comfort to those who heard it. What he said amounted to this: The Government, faced with the disappearance of sterling funds, was forced to act, hut it. mus not particularly distressed by the necessity, because the kind of action (or " procedure," to use Mr. Nash's favourite word) which it chose was and is in harmony with the Government's ideas. The new procedure, indeed, is " part of its policy,"' and—as he unnecessarily reminded the conference —the Government has been elected to take charge of the country. As expected, Mr. Nash indicated that the Government wishes to build up st-erling funds not only for the essential purpose of meeting interest charges, but also to enable it to get " fairly reasonable terms " for renewal and repayment of the loan falling due on January 1 next. He added that defence expenditure this year would be further accelerated and would entail a fairly heavy, and a prior, charge on sterling funds. The funds left will be available for imports, but not necessarily for imports desired by importers and their customers. The Government will make the selection, bearing in mind all the-time its desire to foster New Zealand manufacturing. On the assumption that the New Zealand manufacturers are able to make fall use of the opportunities now presented to them, this means that when and if it becomes possible to remove the control there will be no market left for those classes of imports which have been, in effect, prohibited. Moreover, there will be a politically powerful group which, if it does not oppose the removal of control, will expect protection through the tariff. Mr. Nash spoke truly when, recently, he said the new procedure had a considerable aspect of permanency. * But there were some notable, though scarcely surprising, omissions front Mr. Nash's, statement. He spoke of building up London funds to the " desired point," but did not indicate where that point is. Therefore the importers were left without information on the essential question of what proportion of the exchange funds is likely to be available for non-Government purposes. Implicit in hia request to the conference to aecejtt the new procedure as part of the Government's policy was the assumption that that poliey is sound. Few of his hearers share that assumption. In asserting that the standard ef living would be maintained he did not attempt to explain how. Obviously, if the Government excludes or restricts the importation of certain goods because it deems them non-essential it is reducing the standard of living of some people. But this remark indicates the noticeable tendency of Government leaders to pretend that the Dominion ean "have it both ways." Even from the political point of view the pretence is unwise, for the facts will soon explode it