IMPORT CONTROL

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 32312, 13 September 1943, Page 6

IMPORT CONTROL

A FUTILE POLICY ADDS TO COST OF GOODS OPINION OF BUYER According to the Bureau of Importers. tht 1 import control regulations, introduced in December. 1938, nine months before the war. have caused a severe shortage of many imported commodities. When the war broke out out larder should have been full; instead the cupboard was bare, and in many household lines it is still very bare, as every housewife in this country knows —imported foodstuffs, canned goods, matches, cigarettes, crockery, glassware. cutlery, pots and pans, cotton goods, shirts, pyjamas and many other lines too numerous ,to mention. Without these essentials the standard of living throughout the country is substantially lowered —all because of the Labour Government’s adherence to its futile policy of import control.

In a world market short of consumer goods through the effect of the war. opportunties Icf purchase when goods are available are irretrievably lost, because it is an offence, punishable with a heavy line, to import goods into New

Zealand without an import, license.

and these cannot be obtained for.most

commodities now in short supply. The shortage of goods is due principally to the cumbersome operation of the Labour Government's import control policy. This has proved a colossal failure. adding considerably to the cost, of goods through the burden of maintaining an army of bureaucrats. The critical shortage of goods is apparent everywhere.

No imports under existing licenses may enter New Zealand after Decemer 31 and no money in payment therefor may-be remitted abroad after Oc-

tober 31. Overseas manufacturers simply will not accept orders because the good< cannot be produced within the limit of time permittted for payment or the time limit within which licensed imports much reach New Zealand. Importers' organisations have persistently requested the Government to extend the seventh licensing period so as to alleviate the shortage of many import-

ed commodities, but all their requests have fallen on deaf ears. As a result. the shortage of many imported commodities must be accentuated. The whole policy of import control has Peen a hopeless bungle. It is directly responsible for the shortage of imported commodities, and it. has greatly increased the cost of imported goods to tlie' consumer.