Nelson Evening Mail WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1938 CONTROL OF IMPORTS AND EXPORTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 7 December 1938, Page 6

Nelson Evening Mail WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1938 CONTROL OF IMPORTS AND EXPORTS

THA T the Government intended to take some extreme steps to deal j with the unsatisfactory economic ! position has been foreshadowed by the Prime Minister on several . occasions in the past few weeks, j These have now been announced j by the Minister of Finance. The ; control of imports and the i licensing of exports as from to- i day is provided for by "Gazette” j notice. It has been stated that the j Government had three main courses open to it: (I) To raise the Exchange rate; (2) to increase tariffs; (3) to ration imports by licensing exports. It has , adopted the third course. The : Government has also suspended j the statutory obligation of the Re-1 serve Bank to give sterling for its j bank notes. This action, it is ex- j plained, has been taken to enable I control to be exercised over the |

sterling funds of the Dominion. After referring to the drain on sterling funds which has caused great concern, Mr Nash said a stage had been reached when the Government deemed it necessary for the general welfare of the country to take steps to conserve these funds so as to ensure that overseas debt services would be . met and that sufficient funds , would be available for essential , imports. At the same time the Minister announced that within a reasonable period after the neces- | sary arrangements had been made the Government proposes to issue ian internal loan to meet public j works capital expenditure. Import I Control Regulations and Export Licenses Regulations have been duly gazetted. One point emphasised by Mr Nash is that importers should obtain licenses before ordering goods, as otherwise they may find themselves in the position of not being allowed to land their goods. While deferring detailed com- ; ment until he had more information regarding the proposals, the i Leader of the National Party pre- | diets that the people will soon ! realise the drastic and far-reach- | ing nature of the action taken, for j it will give the Government more j power and greater control over the wealth and trade of the coun- ! try. That, of course, is in accordance with the Socialist policy. The j hope is expressed that importers ! will not be placed in an embarrassing position regarding conI tracts entered into for the manui facture of goods, not actually on the water, but to be shipped. It iis pointed out that if this should I happen, it would mean virtual repudiation and would cause con- | fusion not only in Britain, but also |at this end, through failure to carry out contracts. Mr Nash has explained that the policy to be followed with the import applications will be along the lines which have been enunciated by the Prime Minister at various times—to provide first for the overseas debt services, both Government and local body, and secondly, for i the purchase of goods and materials, preference being given to those which constitute essential requirements and which cannot be produced to advantage in the Dominion. It is not surprising that the import regulations, as a whole, \ meet with the approval of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation which has always been of the opinion that there should be a definite policy of regulating the importation of any goods from overseas which can be effectively made in New Zealand. Ihe Federation anticipates that the result will be a proper distribution of the productive efforts of the Dominion over the whole field of both primary and manufacturing production.” Mr Nash reiterates that the necessity for the new regulations is due to the continuous decline of our sterling funds on account of over-importa- i tion, particularly during the past two years, accentuated by capital transfers during the past year. Most people, however, will probably be found in agreement with the attitude of the president of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce who has commented: “There is no doubt that the Government was faced with a situation J where something had to be done, , but the powers taken seem drastic and probably unprecedented in i the British Empire.” <