AUSTRALIA SUPPLIES STEEL AT EXPENSE OF OWN CONSUMERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 March 1949, Page 4

AUSTRALIA SUPPLIES STEEL AT EXPENSE OF OWN CONSUMERS

(P A ) WELLINGTON, This Day. ' Australia, at the expense of its own consumers, had been forwarding steel to New Zealand, not only as a matter of goodwill but also to aid New Zealand in the expansion of its secondary industries—an important development particularly in view of the troubled world circumstances today, said Mr R. Hazzard, newly-appointed Australian Trade Commissioner, who arrived at Wellington by. the Wanganella this morning. Mr Hazzard said that about 45,000 to 50,000 tons were sent yearly to New Zealand at the expense of Australian consumers, some of whom had to import supplies at approximately double the price of Australian steel. The problem of the expansion of steel production in Australia was largely governed by the labour question. As in New Zealand, Australia was trying to expand its population for self-preser-vation and that expansion automatically created the internal demand for goods that increased some of the difliculties of export.