TRADE WITH GERMANY

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 174, 11 April 1923, Page 8

TRADE WITH GERMANY

LIFTING THE EMBARGO NEED FOR PRECAUTIONS URGED By telegraph.—Press association. Christchurch, April 10. The council of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce set up a committee to consider the question of lifting the. embargo on trade with Germany, which has reported as follows: — “The committee has fully considered the matter, and is of opinion (;f it is considered by the Government ot Great Britain that it is in the interests of the Mother Country and< her Dominions, as tending to benefit Great Britain and restore more stable economic condition in tho world, that Germany should be allowed to trade with other countries) that we in New Zealand should not close the door against German trade, but if German goods are allowed to be imported into this Dominion that such protective duties should be imposed as shall fully safeguard the interests of all workers in industry and commerce in Great Britain and her Dominions, and absolutely prevent Germany from placing goods on the New Zealand market at prices less than those at which similar goods of British 'or Dominion manufacture can be supplied. Tho committee is further of opinion that every door must bo closed by Great Britain and her Dominions agafnst ainy attempt by Germany (through subsidies or otherwise) to dump goods or obtain any undue advantage m commerce over other nations, and ihat so far as this Dominion is concerned the Government of New Zealand be urged to do its part to prevent any attempt at domination in trade by Germany, directly or indirectly, outside her own country. “The 'committee earnestly expresses the hope that if German goods are to be admitted into this Dominion, the lifting of the embargo by the Government will in no way impede or lessen the determination of the Imperial and Dominion Governments to promote and foster in every possible way the matter of inter-imperial trade. “With regard to tho date upon which the embargo should be lifted, the committee desires to emphasise the fact that orders to Great Briain for goods have, owing to the distance between New Zealand and the place of export, to be placed many months before it is possible to obtain delivery. Having regard to the fact that large orders for goods from Great Britain have been placed for delivery up to tho end of 1923, any earlier date than January 1, 1924, for the embargo to be lifted would very seriously affect the interests of traders in this Dominion. For this reason the Government should be urged to postpone lifting the embargo to a. date not earlier than January 1, 1924. The committee further considers that the interests of those traders in New Zealand who have ordered gorxls from Great Britain for future delivery extending beyond September 1, 1923, should be considered before the interests of those who may have ordered German goods in anticipation of the lifting of the embargo on the above date. VIEWS OF INDUSTRIALISTS A meeting of the Wellington Industrial Association last night briefly discussed the resumption of trade with ex-enemy countries. Tho occasion of the discussion was the receipt of the recently-published memorandum-of the Comptroller of Customs explaining the conditions on which tho authorities proposed that trade should be resumed. The president of the association (Mr. L. T. Watkins) thought that some such flexible scheme as the Customs Department outlined would bo more useful than a hard-and-fast law.

Mr. P. D. Barcham, the association’s representative on the Chamber of Commerce, submitted the following report:—“l have attended several meetings of the council of the Chamber of Commerce at which the resumption of trade with ex-enemy countries has been discussed. It has been pointed out that the Government has failed to keep its original promise to the merchants of New Zealand, whereby it undertook to give 12 months’ notice of its intention of lifting the embargo. If, as is proposed, the embargo is lifted on September 1, it is thought that there is a danger of New Zealand’s being flooded with German goods, and that those merchants who have ordered next season’s goods from Groat Britain may bo prejudicially affected thereby. Against these arguments, it has been contended ehat tho great depreciation of German currency, together with the impossibility of getting hard-and-fast quotations and terms of shipments from Germany, and Austria, renders it very unlikely that much German merchandise will be imported into . New Zealand. The matter has been discussed only from the importers’ point of view, and the effect that the lifting of the embargo may have upon local industries has not been considered at all. Practically all the members of tho council have _ reconciled themselves to the inevitability of resumption of trade with ex-enemy countries, the only opinion expressed being that tho evil day should be deferred as long as possible. Tho one aspect of tho whole question that has not been dealt with or considered, is the possibility —which almost amounts to a certainty—that every shilling of British money that is likely to yield a profit to Germany may well be considered as a packet of cartridges, which will ultimately be fired back at us when tho time is ripe.” Mr. 0. M. Banks, a member of the importers’ committee of the Chamber of Commerce, said that the great difficulty of the importer under the proposals of the Customs Department would be tho impossibility of knowing before importation the amount of duty that would be charged on goods from ox-enemy countries. lie suggested that tho difficulty might be overcome in the following way: The Customs Department should assess the value of the goods, when they arrived, at the price of similar goods of local or British manufacture. This would be a simpler procedure than that which would have to be followed under tho proposals tho Department had formulated. It meant, however, that in no circumstances could the goods of ex-enemy countries come into New Zealand (if they were in competition with locally manufactured or British manufactured goods), at a lower price than that of tho British or the local goods. The question raised was how far local and British industries were to be protected. If the suggestion he made was adopted, an importer would no longer be in tho dark, as tho price, of tho British on Now Zealand article would bo known, and tho amount of duty payable on tho article of ex-enemy origin could bo calculated from that. Of course, where tho article of ex-enemy origin did not compete with a British or a locally made article, tho consumer would receive tho benefit of the Gorman invoice value with tho ordinary duty added. As Mr. Banks informed tho meeting that tho suggestion ho had outlined was to bo put before tho Comptroller of Customs next week-, the meeting decided to postpone further discussion until tho result of tho interview with the Comptroller had been reported.