TRADER'S DIFFICULTY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 12, 14 July 1939, Page 10

TRADER'S DIFFICULTY

NO FUNDS TO MEET THEM

BANKS NOT TO BLAME

(By Telegraph—Press Association.!

DUNEDIN. This Day

''We regret having to cable you that in view of the difficulty of securing transfer of funds from New Zealand

we were reluctantly compelled to cancel orders unless it is possible for you to arrange for funds to be established in Sydney against documents."

Thus begins a letter to a local company from a Sydney supplier.

Statements by local importers further clarify the position. One stated that for some weeks local trading banks have repressed letters of credit for shipments.

The banks say that although import licences have been issued the Reserve Bank is not producing the overseas exchange to allow them to pay for the goods. One importer stated: "Wa cannot blame the banks, bscausa every letter of credit reduces their overseas assets, which are worth 10 psr cent, more to them elsewhere than in New Zealand."

Another importer was more emphatic. "If we cannot get funds we cannot buy; if we cannot buy we cannot sell. That means that we go out of business. You can get permits for anything required by the Government; also, the money to pay for them is given automatically; but we cannot all live on the Government. We will shortly have houses built by the Government but nothing to put in our stomachs."