Trade with Britain Must be Reciprocal

Manawatu Times, Volume 70, Issue 110, 11 May 1945, Page 4

Trade with Britain Must be Reciprocal

“If we want Britain to buy our butter aud cheese we must reciprocate by buying British goods, on the postwar export of which her very economic existence will depend,” declared Mr. T. Maxwell, London manager of the National Dairy Association and managing director of the New Zealand Produce Association, in an address to the annual gathering of dairy factory managers at Massey Agricultural CollegeHe said he was pleased that the National Dairy Association’s policy was to buy from Britain, whose farmers and manufacturers alike, had worked wonderfully during the war. The reduction by £1,0(55,000,000 of British investments abroad, and her contraction of debts to the extent of £2,300,000,000, made it imperative that her exports should be kept up to the highest possible pitch. Every effort had been made to meet New Zealand’s dairy factory requirements during the war, though progress could be made in this direction only when high priorities for machinery and goods had been established. It was only by adhering to a comprehensive programme that British manufacturers were able, with their skeleton staffs, to meet overseas requirements. The shortage of bags was accentuated by so man}' being used for the protective sandbagging of buildings and strategic points, and shipping osses meant the duplication of many overseas orders. Everything in Britain was made subservient to the war effort, and had it not been for the splendid work of the British Mercantile Marine Now Zealand would have been in great trouble with her supplies of machinery and material for processing primary products.