TAPERING-OFF IN LEND-LEASE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 93, 17 October 1944, Page 4

TAPERING-OFF IN LEND-LEASE

The cable message from New York suggesting that a tightening-up of lendlease procedure, particularly in regard to food supplies, is being undertaken should not come as a surprise. In future, according to the Washington correspondent of the "New York Times," the test -will be whether the foods ordered by Allied countries are actually needed for war purposes. Lend-lease was a wonderful conception and its application has been most generous. Under it the Government and people of the United States have placed their resources freely at the disposal of the United Nations. The time is now approaching, however, when the United States, in common with other countries, can look forward to a return to normal trading conditions, and it is not 'unreasonable that the authorities there should be considering a tapering-off in the quantities of goods supplied under lend-lease. This tapering-off, in fact, is an essential preliminary to a return to the normal exchange of goods with other | countries. The fact that this question is now being raised is an added reason | why New Zealand should place its lend-lease and reverse lend-lease transactions with the United States on a. factual basis. Only by doing this can we know how we stand now and how we will stand when lend-lease comes to an end and normal trading

relations are resumed. Reversion to normal conditions, particularly with countries that have been either invaded or placed upon an all-for-war basis, must present many difficulties. The normal flow of food and war materials cannot be resumed overnight, and close study of these difficulties must include an accounting of to what extent lendlease aid can be replaced by present and prospective resources of the countries aided.