TRADE TARIFFS IN EMPIRE

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28223, 11 March 1957, Page 12

TRADE TARIFFS IN EMPIRE

Change In System Urged (Neto Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, March 10. Lord Tweedsmuir, a prominent British industrialist, believes the time has come for a new deal between British traders and the Commonwealth. He said in Auckland yesterday that rigid tariffs and quotas should be replaced by a more flexible system. Questioned on the United Kingdom attitude to the coming New Zealand trade talks, Lord Tweedsmuir commented that ‘‘it’s a long time since 1932”—the year the Ottaw’a agreement was fixed. ‘‘Evervbodv was in the same boat then, but the pattern of trade has altered greatly since. Both Australia and New Zealand have become manufacturers, although this country, to its great benefit, has remained principally a primary producer.” A more flexible system was needed, he said, possibly year-to-year contracts for farm goods, which could be adjusted as markets changed. The build-up of farming in Britain. through State aid. was there to stay—‘‘a lesson rubbed in by the last war.” British manufacturers would not query the large Government subsidies which farmers received, for they accepted this policy as a national necessity, said Lord Tweedsmuir. ‘‘ln principle.” he added, ‘‘we think that we should be free to make any trading arrangements that we please.

‘‘lmperial preference was appropriate in 1932; if there is now a better mechanism, let us find it,” he said.