CASE AGAINST QUOTAS.

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20919, 28 July 1933, Page 11

CASE AGAINST QUOTAS.

+ DOMINION'S VIEWS. VALUE OF NEW ZEALAND k MARKET. _ r jlB MASTERS'S SPEECH. IfirtCUt TO USITBD pRSciS ASSOCIATION, ™ New Zealand.; (Received July 27, 8.5 p.m.) LONDON, July 26. iflje Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes was nable to attend the luncheon which ,n o if/e<l an auction sale of New Zealand fruit at Spitalfields, but the Hon. R- Masters and Sir Thomas fljlford were present. jKjponding to the toast of his health, Mr Masters emphasised the ,j)ue of the personal touch in the marketing of produce in Great Britain- He was pleased to see that aj price paid for New Zealand Mjnles was higher than that paid for others, but even that figure, when Ujtg such as freight and insurance ,-re deducted, made him feel other sorry for the producer. He M pleased also to know that the control of New Zealand's fruit export was in such manifestly cap,hle hands, especially in regard to applying the market with the most stable varieties. He would like to reply to some jgent criticisms of New Zealand, for Instance the Dominion had been diarged with sending subsidised produce to England. This was not JJrrect. Though, in the case of Apia, the Government had given i guarantee to fruit growers of a grtain return a case, if it had not June so it would have been very difficult for growers to set up in business and receive advances from He banks. The cost to the Government had been small, because the jniithad brought a reasonable price. He added: "New Zealand does not Bte the idea of a quota, as applied to our produce. (Applause.) We are lyoung country in the midst of determent, and we have tremendous japonsibilities regarding the money borrowed for that development from Great Britain. If, as a young county, we are told we must stand still, lien the position will be very seriouiforour Dominion, as it will for the other dominions. Dominion's Purchases. "flten I add that New Zealand, with a population of only 1,500,000, purchased from Great Britain more than £30,000,000 more manufactures in five years than Denmark, £50,000,000 more than Russia, £42;00O,00O more than Japan, and 128,000,000 more than China, you liß realise that the trade position ietween Great Britain and the Dominion deserves some recognition." ;A member of the House of Comms had said that the Dominions tould buy more imports from Great litain, but New Zealand, with her feral tariff preferences and free ntrjr for a large proportion of British goods, was doing her utmost to consolidate trade with the Mother Country. Tor instance," he said, "In 1931 w imported goods valued at £HOOO,OOO, of which £12,000,000 ante from Great Britain, and tyWO.OOO from other Empire counWa, while the total amount of tafen imports was only £7,000,000. St you must also remember that WW than £6,000,000 of the outtfatrade was for goods which Great rain could not supply. There was ii a great number of articles left riiih Great Britain could sell us, adon which she had a preference tffcom 10 to 25 per cent.; such, for iHtance, as wireless sets and tractor Debt Burden. There is no justification for «$g that New Zealand should do «W trade with Great Britain. In idffltori to our purchases, we have fcM £6,000,000 a year for interna national loans, £2,000,000 for wl bodies' interest, another iWMHH) for dividends and private matments, and at least £5,000,000 • toward freights. Thus prac•fcaHy 90 per cent, of the money Jjteceived for produce in Great < mn, went back to her. 3f restriction of output is forced ' "May where will other countries, ffifW much less proportionately m Great Britain, come in?" asked M aaid that the World EcojWc Conference might not have J* the success all could have gwd, but the contacts which Mr Wf* and he had made, in respect business and marsSß, affairs in London, and in "wag with acute marketing probPm these difficult times, had ** made their visit worth while. * Thomas Wilford said that Jw New Zealand in 1929 JjNble to pay her interest to P* Britain with the proceeds of E*ool,- it now required the pros'°f"all the wool and half her ""•-exports.