BRITISH PRESS VIEWS ON N.Z. TRADE POLICY

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28475, 3 January 1958, Page 8

BRITISH PRESS VIEWS ON N.Z. TRADE POLICY

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

(Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 2. The “Financial Times” today criticised the New Zealand ( Government’s plan to introduce : drastic import licensing. < “While Mr Nash cannot be 1 blamed for taking remedial measures, the form that these have taken appears typical of all that i is most irritating in the Left-wing approach to economic policy.” ; said the newspaper. “Mr Nash explained that the Government chose the reimposition of controls over the whole range of imports as an alternative to devaluation. “Both methods would have involved some reduction in New Zealand’s imports, if they were to have any chance of success, but the difference is that, while controls put all the emphasis on restricting imports, the devaluation solution would probably have involved an increase in exports as well, as the country’s dairy producers would then have been more competitive in European markets. “But this does not mean that devaluation is the only alternative to the measures taken or the most desirable one.” “The emphasis on measures which will restrict the total volume of the country’s trade is closely connected with the protec-

tionist policy of the New Zealand Labour Party, a policy which is in danger of over-estimating the degree of self-sufficiency for which it is profitable to aim in a country of two million people,” said “The Times.” “The New Zealand Government is entitled to expect the interests of its dairy producers to be taken into account when the annual guarantees to farmers are formulated in this country, but in return Britain is entitled to ask that New Zealand’s own trade policy should not be unduly restrictive in character.” The “Scotsman” said that the intensification of New Zealand import restrictions would come as a severe shock to British exporters. “It does look as if there will have to be further consultations between the British and the New Zealand Governments about the matter.” The “Manchester Guardian” declared: “One may regret seeing another advance in the doctrine of economic self-sufficiency: but New Zealand has hardly embraced it of her own choice. “The terms of trade have been moving steadily against her, and her troubles have not been brought on by an inflationary policy which she could herself correct”