INCENTIVES TO EXPORT URGED

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30998, 2 March 1966, Page 8

INCENTIVES TO EXPORT URGED

A number of manufacturers in this country would go to other countries and would discontinue manufacturing in New Zealand unless the Government did something about it pretty quickly, said Mr T. L. Uren in Christchurch yesterday at an Export Action Group meeting of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association.

**]Jh« Government gets more in taxation from us than our shareholders get from us. I think there ”is no Incentive (to export) in that,” he said. Mr Uren said that the New Zealand Government must be familiar with export incentive schemes of other countries. “Our incentives would need to be greater because we have so many other disincentives and difficulties to cope with, such as Import licensing, that

other countries we have to compete with don’t have.” The president of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation (Mr J .R. Maddren) said that if a lot of export works in New Zealand were given additional incentives he was quite sure of the volume of exports that they would generate. Mr Maddren said that comparatively few exporters in New Zealand were aware of the method of bringing in immigrants and the Government assistance that was available.

The Export Liaison Officer for the Canterbury district (Mr D. N. Hull) said he thought that exporters would get the “green light treatment all the way through.” Immigration

Mr R,H. Stewart, who was the chairman of the meeting, said that he had tried to get someone out from England. But the frustrations attached to doing this were so great that he decided to pay the whole lot and take his chance. He said the immigration policy needed to be streamlined for people going to be brought out to help exports. Mr Stewart said that it was an “impossible” position if 150 questions on why a company wanted a particular person had to be answered. Mr E. O. Hunter said that if additional exports were made tax free, the Government would pick up a tremendous amount of ancilliary taxation, such as taxation through transport increases.

Mr Stewart said that if there were no taxation at all for new exports, the Government then had a problem with traditional exporters. The problem, he said, was trying to find a solution for both groups of exporters—the traditional and the new. Mr Revell said it should apply to newly-generated export—no matter who generated Lt.

Priority Given

Mr Hull said that at the moment for straight export promotion he did not think there were any funds for manufacturers, but a high priority was given to export industry through the Industrial Development Corporation that had been set up fairly recently with Government backing. When asked by Mr Uren

to elaborate on any measures the Government was likely to take to increase incentives to export to make them comparable with most other countries, Mr Hull said: “It is a bit difficult. I think I can say publicly that the Government is aware of this, and that they are finding out what presentday incentives mean. “How they would compare with those in Australia who are competing for overseas markets; and what would be the effect of potential incentives.

These points are being actively considered. I don’t know what will be decided —but at least they are looking at it.”