Australian Exports To N.Z. This Year £15,000,000

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22946, 14 May 1949, Page 6

Australian Exports To N.Z. This Year £15,000,000

( p A ) AUCKLAND, May 13. “I am afraid that the operation of the import licensing system as a form of tariff amounting in some cases to prohibition has come something as a shock to us,” declared the recently appointed Australian Trade Commissioner in New Zealand, Mr. R. Ilazzard, in Auckland today. , , , Mr. Hazzard, who was a guest speaker at the Associated Chambers of Commerce, said his Australian manufacturin'* friends were somewhat insistent on the healthiness of freedom in competition They preferred operating under a tariff system of known character. A number of them had indicated their intention of withdrawing from the New Zealand trade. Some had done so. Kindred associations in Australia had strongly endorsed the suggestion that sterling import licenses should be made available for anywhere in the sterling area provided such licenses were kept within the limits of the sterling funds available. Mr Hazzard said business expansion in Australia was on almost an unbelievable scale. The indications were that Australia this year would send £ls 000.000 worth of goods to New Zealand and Australia would take from New Zealand £5,000,000. Australian wheat would account for over £5,000,000. , ~ “We are anxious to take the maximum New Zealand can send us and welcome suggestions in this connection ” Mr. Hazzard added.