N.Z. TRADE WITH BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24768, 8 January 1946, Page 7

N.Z. TRADE WITH BRITAIN

TRANSFER OF MARKETS NOT ADVOCATED

COMMENT ON NEWSPAPER ARTICLE

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, Jan. 7. “This article might give the impression that I am advocating the transfer from the United Kingdom of our trade to other countries,” said Mr J. T. Martin, managing director of Wright, Stephenson and Company, Ltd., referring to the article on Empire trade in the “Daily Express,” London, under the heading “Empire May Lose Empire Business.” “I made the position clear at the Associated. Chambers of Commerce conference in Christchurch last November,” said Mr Martin, “when I pointed out that our increasing production of butter and cheese, averaging 2600 tons annually, and a meat increase of 140,000 tons in 15 years, together with the heavy increase of Argentine production of dairy produce, imposed on us the necessity of exploiting outside markets and retaining just sufficient produce to enable those markets to be tested. The quantity retained would probably be only a few hundred tons.

“My contention is that the United Kingdom is our main and almost our only market, and that we must foster that market to the utmost. But in view of the clamant demand for the National Farmers’ Union in England that the Ottawa agreement should be terminated and a quota imposed on all importation, we should not burden the United Kingdom with stocks beyond her consumptive capacity, but instead should exploit thp marked possibilities in the United States, British India, and the Far East. ‘‘l also contend our status with the United Kingdom is weakened by our restrictive import control of British manufactured goods,’’ continued Mr Martin. “I have not advocated, as the ‘Daily Express’ states, that New Zealand should turn away from Britain, should strike a blow at the heart of the Empire and hand over her trade to the United States under a reciprocal trade agreement. The whole position is summed up' in the following resolution passed by the Associated Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand at the annual conference where the subject was discussed: ‘That this conference, while recognising the necessity of developing our trade with Britain to the utmost extent, stresses the n£ed for cultivating additional markets.’ ”