The Dominion. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1938. BRITAIN’S SEARCH FOR MARKETS

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 62, 6 December 1938, Page 10

The Dominion. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1938. BRITAIN’S SEARCH FOR MARKETS

Very plain speaking has been heard in Britain of late on the subject of British trade with the Empire and foreign countries. The welcome accorded to the Anglo-American treaty has brought the question of Britain’s business prospects sharply to the forefront, and there is evidence of a growing feeling that trading methods and relationships must be revised on lines more favourable to British enterprise. This trend of opinion cannot be ignored by New Zealand. It comes inopportunely—at a time when we face the urgent necessity for an overhaul of our own economic position—but its implications must be faced. Britain is seeking and expecting greater reciprocity within the Empire as well as from countries outside it. There could not be a less propitious occasion for contemplating measures likely to stem the flow of exports from our largest customer. . . In a speech at a recent conference of the Association of Bntish Chambers of Commerce, the president, Sir Charles Granville Gibson, M.P., introduced the question of tariff barriers, which, he said, were limiting Britain’s exports in almost every market in the world. He referred, in particular, to the unfair competition of German and Italian export bounties (which vary, according to conditions, from 25 to 40 per cent.). On Friday last the secretary of the Department of Overseas Trade also vigorously criticized foreign bounties, which, he said, were destroying trade and unsettling conditions thioughout the world. He added that if Germany, in particular, proposed to continue them Britain would be “forced to step down into the arena to meet her at her own game.” This aspect of the British trade problem does not concern New Zealand directly, but the statements quoted indicate fairly clearly that the Mother Country is in no mood for either commercial interference or further handicaps. Sir Charles Gibson carried Britain’s case a good deal nearer our shores when he turned to the question of Empire tariffs. lheie ate no known means,” he said, “of combating obstacles to free trade unless we are prepared to take a bold stand to force a freer market for out goods. The power is in our hands to use it if we will, and that weapon .is the fact that we are the greatest buying nation in the world of both primary and manufactured products. Our Empire is a great market, but they can do more for us than they are doing at present. They are entitled to foster their secondary industries, but we not only ask, we demand, a greater share of the trade they are passing to foreign countries if they expect us to maintain our purchases of their primary products, purchases they cannot live.” Additional emphasis is laid on Britain’s position by the Daily Mail, London, which points out that it is now three years since there was a favourable balance of trade. In 1936 the adverse balance was £18,000,000; in the following year it was £52,000,000, and this year it threatens to be still higher. “No nation,” the journal adds, “can continue with unfavourable balances without damage, and every expedient should be tried. Closer bargaining (using the immense purchasing power of our own market as an argument) should be used to obtain bigger concessions for British exports.” Here, again, the warning is unmistakable. Britain buys freely and seeks similar freedom as a seller. If it is not granted to her—or if the present scope of selling freedom be reduced—her Government is likely to be faced with demands for the adoption of more forthright persuasive methods. For nine months ended on September 30 of this year, New Zealand exported £40,481,996 worth of goods to the United Kingdom. She imported from the United Kingdom less than half that.amount, so that her favourable balance of trade for the period was in excess of £20,000,000. Yet the Dominion has an adverse balance of trade with no fewer than 29 countries, including 15 foreign countries, and her total imports this year have exceeded her exports to the United Kingdom by more than £1,000,000. In the face of such figures arguments for the rationing of British imports would be difficult enough to sustain in London at any time. Today, it is to be feared, they would be greeted with no sympathy at all.