BRITAIN AND HOLLAND

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 117, 17 April 1934, Page 6

BRITAIN AND HOLLAND

In pursuance of its well-known policy the British Government will shortly enter into trade negotiations with the Netherlands. Information that the Dutch authorities were anxious to promote an agreement was sent from The Hague late last month. In the course of a statement in the House of Commons Mr D. J. Colville (Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade) announced the Dutch Government’s decision to continue for a limited period to allot to goods imported from Britain quotas in force before reductions were recently made. Mr Colville added that the status quo on both sides was being- maintained to assist the negotiations. The preliminary conversations are now announced to take place early next week. If Holland is an important customer of the United Kingdom, the same is true of Britain in the purchase of Dutch goods aud produce. But the balance of trade, like that of so many Continental States, is heavily adverse to Britain. The figures published in a cable message the other day readily explain why Holland is so anxious to have trade placed on the sound basis of an agreement. The balance in her favour last year was four and a half million pounds, and the imposition of further restrictions against British goods, suspended during the negotiations, could very well react to Holland’s disadvantage. Trade between the Dutch East Indies and the United Kingdom is also considerably in favour of the former, though last year there was a substantial reduction in the adverse balance. An overseas writer last year pointed to the steadiness of the export trade to Holland in stressing the importance of this country as a consumer of British goods. In the first quarter of 1933, he stated, while imports from Holland fell from £4,700,000 on an average a quarter in 1932 to £3,180,000, Britain’s exports were maintained in a manner “almost marvellous in a disturbed world.” The average a quarter in 1932 was about £3,460,000, and during the first quarter of 1933 it was about £3,180,000. In other words, he says, the trade balance between the United Kingdom and Holland had reached equilibrium. This was used as an argument that care should be taken in negotiations with other countries not to impair the buying capacity of the Dutch market. In spite of the gain made in reducing the adverse balance of trade with the Dutch Eastern possessions, Britain has imported a much greater quantity of goods from Holland than she exported. This perhaps may be explained by the imposition of quotas, a most unfair method of trading which has hit British exporters severely since Continental countries adopted it. No doubt it will be impossible—-and it is not expected—to reduce the trade balance to a very considerable extent, but the keenness with which Holland is ready to enter into negotiations makes it clear that like other Continental countries, who export more to Britain than they buy in return, she is seeking the advantages of an agreement. The arrangements with other countries have proved of strong benefit to British traders in the past year.