Import Control Attacked By Chamber Members

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31029, 7 April 1966, Page 18

Import Control Attacked By Chamber Members

Politicians would be the only ones who would be able to buy a variety of goods, because in their many trips overseas the whole world became their shop window, said Mr C. F. Whitty when the council of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce last evening discussed the new import licensing schedule.

He was among several members who criticised either the schedule or the system of import licensing. “This is truly a case of do as we say, but not as we do,” said Mr Whitty. He said the Government had a sorry record in its attitude to equality of opportunity for both trader and consumer. Life in New Zealand, he said, would be monotonous if in every home visited one saw the same china, glassware, ornaments, and kitchen gadgets. “We all take pride in the fact that we have something different in our homes from our friends, but the day is fast approaching when this will not be so,” said Mr Whitty. “I do not subscribe to the view that New Zealanders are becoming faceless. But 1 do subscribe to the view that our merchandise, under the present import control, will become such. “The Pottery, Household

Hardware Association, because of the Government’s many broken promises, now intends to carry out an intensive advertising campaign up to the time of the election,” Mr Whitty said. Mr J. M. Tocker said that New Zealand had had import licensing so long that the country had grown complacent about it. He said that he was fed up with import controls. The controls were timewasting for the Government and consumer: they were inefficient and costly, and they restricted the wrong people. They seemed completely unnecessary. “New Zealand is the only country of a high living standard—the only one relatively advanced—-which maintains a wide range of import controls,” said Mr Tocker. “Mismanaged” The real reason New Zealand had import controls today was that governments now and in the past had for 27 years mismanaged the country’s finances. Mr Tocker said he would like to see subsidies abolished and expenditure kept down. He would also like to see the

Government increase taxes, particularly indirect taxes. Some sort of tariff could be put on to protect New Zealand manufacturers, but these should be very carefully reached and should be limited. “If the Government was to cut all import controls, it would stop the shortages we are going to face over the next few months,” said Mr Tocker. “We should be satisfied with nothing less than total abolition of import controls.” Mr R. B. McNish said he did not think New Zealand had quite reached the stage where it could abolish import licensing. New Zealand had tried once before, but it was not altogether a happy experience. Govt. Departments It was an enormous economic waste to have two Government departments doing practically the same job. These were the Industries and Commerce Department and the Customs Department, which had enormous staffs. With the present over-em-ployment in New Zealand, it was obviously difficult for the Government to find suitable qualified staff for major decisions on licence applications. If the Government decided to allocate to each trade group a certain amount of licences each group itself could judge the requirements of its members with far greater ability than most men in Government offices. Government men had largely had inadequate training to deal with a particular industry. The chamber’s vice-presi-dent (Mr R. E. Smith) said that there would be many theories on how New Zealand's overseas funds were spent, depending on the position one viewed it from—the Government department, the manufacturer, the importer But it seemed perfectly obvious that it was necessary to increase the pool of available money if New Zealand was to increase its present standard of living. The council decided to refer the subject to the chamber’s importer’s committee for a report to the next meeting.