TRADE WITH CANADA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20924, 14 July 1931, Page 8

TRADE WITH CANADA.

The protracted negotiations beJ tween Canada and Australia to I establish a new commercial treaty i have apparently reached a definite | conclusion. Intimation has been . given that an official statement ; would be made in Ottawa at 9 p.m. ' on Monday, this time corresponding I with noon to-day in Canberra, where I an announcement in identical terms | will presumably be made simultancj ously. This development will increase the exasperation that has been provoked by the manner in which the negotiations between New Zealand and Canada have been conducted. Six weeks have elapsed since the Government, without the slightest warning, raised the tariff on imports from Canada to the maximum rate, and the only apparent effect of its action has been to confirm the deadlock between the two Governments. This measure was introduced with so little consideration that no provision was made for the exemption of goods actually in transit, and, though that oversight has been remedied, no relief has been given to importers in respect of goods arriving under contracts existing at the beginning of June. There is only one legitimate justification for the imposition of prohibitive duties: a belief that drastic restriction of trade will expedite negotiations for reciprocal arrangements. Subsequent events suggest that on this occasion the Government struck blindly at Canada in the hope that what it had failed to achieve by casual conversations and occasional telegrams would be accomplished by intimidation. The threat has not. only failed ; it has also further estranged the Canadian Government, and, instead of a hopeful prospect of agreement, the two countries are now confronted with tho spectacle of their Governments exchanging mutual recriminations. Extraordinary powers of varying the tariff have been conceded by Parliament to the Government, with a view to their use in such negotiations, but it was

never contemplated that such emergency measures would be used to exclude any British Dominion permanently from the benefits of the Imperial preference policy. Yet that will inevitably be the result if this question is not removed from the sphere of administrative action, in which it has been so seriously prejudiced, into that of Parliamentary judgment. Retaliatory action against Canada may be sanctioned while there is a prospect of agreement being reached; its perpetuation merely to avoid confession of failure in negotiations or as a device for augmenting revenue cannot be tolerated. Parliament is the proper authority to determine tariff policy. It should insist upon a frank disclosure of the position and, unless it is satisfied that the present methods will lead to an early solution of the deadlock, decide whether imports from Canada are to be treated as British or foreign goods.