IMPORT CONTROL.

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

IMPORT CONTROL.

DIFFICULTIES OF PLANNING, t (To the Editor.) Replying to C. Y. Hooper, "Citizen" is not on bad terms with the measures to rezulate imports, but with the methods adopted bv the Government. Had the Government set up an Imports Control Board to study the position and prepare a plan, much of the fear distrust and alarm would have been removed. When such a wide, far-reaching regulation is brought in overnight, and the full power to discriminate between one class of goods and another, one person or firm against another it is small wonder that many are agitated! Only to-day I saw the application of one firm where a full quota was granted in Auckland and total prohibition was enforced in Wellington and Christchurch. There was another ca«e of two firms in Auckland where one had imported less than was required and the other had over-imported during the six months upon which quotas were fixed. The result was that the firm who had over-imported received 75 per cent, the other 50 per cent. The English farmer says that it is stupid to import so much meat when by ample protection they could produce it thenselves. New Zealand may be able to produce jams, pickles, fruit, •• etc., but that is no reason why Britain should not be permitted to export these products if she Can meet the freight duty, etc. It is a crude sagacity that suggests that there are not fish caught in the Xorth Sea that we have the right to buy. Does Mr. Hooper suggest that we should deny ourselves Canadian salmon because we have shark, dogfish and mullet here? It is stupid to export boots from Auckland to Christchurch -when they can makethem there! I agree with moderate protection to establish local industry, but an< industry that requires 25 to 50 per cent phM freight, etc., is an expensive luxury. "Citizen?; has devoted many years' study to. Empire trade, has had considerable experience, and. this is the reason why he disagrees with the Hon. Mr. Nash and for- that matter with any individual that k appointed as a dictator. ; New Zealand'* industries are not languishing. Every year shows a steady progress; we are now attempting to do the impossible and reduce our machine working hours to 300 hourf } per year. Other countries are increasing the" machine working hours and working from Tft " to 24 hours a day with double and treble 7' shifts at ordinary rates of pay. Australia, "j Canada, England and United States all have set up boards of experts to advise , the Governments on the question of imports and exports; we have appointed a dictator of exchange, internal and external, of import*;* and exports, and he is not an expert. Xo man - is an expert in the wide range of knowledge that this one man assumes. CITIZEN.