FURTHER LIGHT ON MANY POINTS SOUGHT BY CONFERENCE

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 105, 27 January 1939, Page 10

FURTHER LIGHT ON MANY POINTS SOUGHT BY CONFERENCE

Government’s Import Control Policy

DURATION DEPENDENT ON HOW SOON OBJECTIVES ARE ATTAINED

Basis 01 Licensing System Not To Be Disclosed

On his second visit yesterday to the national conference’ on import control in. Wellinoton the Minister of Finance and Customs, Mr. Nash, devoted more than an hour to answering questions formulated the previous day by a sub-comnuttee of the conference on different aspects of the Government’s control of exchange and impoi t selection po cy. The meeting was held in the concert chamber of the Town Hall, which was crowded with some 700 business men from all parts of the Dominion. Ihe Mimstei i ephed hi st 33 written questions and then answered, a number of supplementary Ones.. He was followed throughout' with the keenest interest. The president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand, Mr. M. S. Myers, Dunedin, presided. ' The duration of the import control system, said Mr. Nash, would depend upon how soon the objectives were attained, but the Government would continue o protect local manufacturers who had extended their plants and who were selh g goods at reasonably economic prices. It was not practicable to state the bas of the allocations on which licences were being granted, because changes might be necessary according to circumstances. Imports of all classes oi goods must be co-ordinated with the development of new local industries. In cases where the restriction was dictated solely by the need to conserve sterling funds it would be eased as the position improved.. If the control system were continued in 1940 the question of granting licences on an annual basis would be considered, the Minister said. Licences for seasonal goods required in the second half of the current year and for raw materials would piobably be issued within a week or ten days. Firms which, because of the restrictions were unable to carry on, could not be permitted to transfer their licences to anothei him, but where several permits, too small to be of use, were issued to one , firm, considei ation would be given to their aggregation. . ’ . >, , If it were not detrimental to local industry, special consideration would be given to overseas firms that were prepared to send goods to the Dominion and leave the proceeds for investment within the country. . In o-eneral Mr. Nash said that, though rules for the administration of the regulations had been formulated, there was nothing to prevent the Government from giving consideration to the removal of any hardship or Injustice.