Nelson Cotton Mill

Press, Volume C, Issue 29680, 25 November 1961, Page 3

Nelson Cotton Mill

Sir,—The chairman of the official Japanese trade commission has stated that Japanese exporters are amazed at the amount of protection that is being afforded by the Government to one New Zealand cotton mill. If the Japanese Government was not advised of the proposed protection before the agreement was signed, surely New Zealand has broken in deed and in spirit some of the principal clauses of the G.A.TT. agreement, under which New Zealand and other signatories agreed not to use import controls except for balance-o<-payment reasons. I do not doubt that the New Zealand Government approached the Japanese Government on this cotton mill proposition, but will the Minister assure the country that the extent of protection was divulged to them? Also, was the Japanese Government aware that New Zealand intended to violate the G.A.TT. agreement? —Yours, etc., WIDE AWAKE. November 3, 1961. [A proof of this letter waa sent to Mr J. R. Marshall with an invitation to him to comment. No reply has been received.— Ed.. “The Press.”) Sir.—l am writing this In support of the remarks of “Wider Outlook.” Your editorials on the cotton mill for Nelson have disgusted me also. We had the same kind of talk about the tyre factories when they started, but they have been of great benefit to New Zealand, just as the cotton mill will be. It does not matter whether it is Nelson, Canterbury, or Auckland; it is New Zealand that matters and not personal profit, and that is what is concerning most of the critics. Imports will have at least 80 per cent of the market, and I would sooner buy well-made New Zealand than made in Japan, as some people advocate.—Yours, etc., WIDER OUTLOOK No. 2. November 24, 1961.