RESTRICTION OF IMPORTS

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24748, 13 December 1945, Page 4

RESTRICTION OF IMPORTS

EFFECT O*N BRITISH TRADE

NEW ZEALAND POLICY CRITICISED

New Zealand's import* restriction policy' as it affects Britain was criticised by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr S.- G. Holland) last evening, when he addressed National Party workers in the Radiant Hall on the work of the recent Parliamentary session, and on the political situation!" He said that New Zealand was denying .Britain the right to sell half the goods she wanted to sell to the Dominion, and that Britain was entitled to something much better than the treatment she was being given to-day.

Mr Holland referred to New Zealand's dependence on "her export market, and the United States loan agreement with Britain. He said he did not wish to comment on the agreement at this stage, but he could say that it was none too favourable from the British point of *view. But Britain was so desperate that she had to get any food anywhere, at any price. That was why she was prepared to take everything from New Zealand and pay a. good price for it. Mr Holland added that this situation would not exist always. New Zealand had had competitors in the past, and in the future there would still be com--petitors—countries like India, Brazil, China, the Argentine, and particularly Denmark, with her dairy products. But to-day Britain—a country which meant so much to New Zealand —was being denied the right to sell half the goods she wanted to sell to the Dominion. No Free Market 'Britain is entitled to something much better than the treatment we are giving her to-day," said Mr Holland. "The agreement which was signed by Mr Nash and Mr Oliver Stanley should be honoured. It was an honourable agreement signed by honourable men. In it we agreed not to employ import restrictions to bolster up uneconomic industries, or to deny Britain reasonable access to the New Zealand market. But to-day approximately half the things that Britain could supply are locked out, and the other half are on a strict ration or quota. There is not a free market for us to buy what we want as long as we have the money to pay for it" Mr Holland said that in 1938 Britain informed New Zealand that' she intended to restrict her imports of meat by 3 per cent. in. the 1939 season. But the war came, and these restrictions were not put into force. What would happen if Britain did to New Zealand what New Zealand was doing to her' New Zealand was putting a 50 per cent, quota on British goods. "If Britain put the same quota, on us in 1945 as she put in 1938, we would not be able to export one single ton of mutton, beef, or pork," said Mr Holland. "Also, we would have more than 20,000 tons of first-class lamb on our hands, and would not know what to do with it. We say that we have got import selection, and buy what we like. What would happen if Britain did that to us?" Mr Holland added that at present there were approximately '12,000,000 bales, of wool in the Empire surplus to requirements. If Britain had only bought what she wanted, she would not want any wool from New Zealand for the next 13 years, and the Dominion would have accumulated approximately 13,(500,000 bales, for which it would not have a market. Financial Policy "It.is bad business for this country to treat our best customer the way we are treating her to-day, if we are expecting her to take the whole of the produce we have available for export," said Mr Holland. The Government's financial policy, and its relation to production, was also criticised by Mr Holland. He said that one of the things facing the country to-day was that its monetary system had got out of control, and was quite unrelated to the supply of goods. The Government was guilty and stood, convicted of the worst inflationary policy that had ever been employed in the country's finances. "I believe that the Government has made the major blunder of addressing | itself almost entirely to distribution, I and has allowed production to \take ! care of itself," continued Mr Holland. j "We have only one market for our ex- | ports. There will come a day when our only customer, Britain, will de- | mand a fair deal as fair as her trade is concerned. Unless the thing I call in- : nation is checked, we are going to | face a very difficult period."