MENACE OF QUOTAS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21546, 18 July 1933, Page 13

MENACE OF QUOTAS

Sir, —The Herat,d's admirable leading article on Friday under the above heading was a powerful and convincing statement of the case against the suggested butter quota, it is an effective antidote for the vicious pamphlet advocating the quota issued by the Hon. J. ti. Coates in May of this year, it is disquieting that while Mr. Forbes in England is reported to be resisting the quota, the Minister of Finance in New Zealand vigorously supports it. The Hkrai,i>'h able leader clearly shows that "the whole Imperial conception is being jeopardised by the quota proposals. ' Your warning is profound, that a quota crisis will mean "that the whole policy of future development will have to be reconsidered." Debt securities, potential progress, immigration, reciprocal trade, employment, all major national and Empire issues, are rightly cited by you as being seriously involved. Earnestly do 1 support your plea for an alternative, acceptable to both Britain and the Dominions, to the quota policy of despair. To this end 1 would suggest the earliest possible freeing of the exchange and the removal of the equivalent to 25 per cent tariff against Britain, in the manifesto to the Prime Minister (November 24, ISM2) against the raising of the exchange, the Government was warned that "the spirit and letter of the Ottawa Agreement would be violated and the present good understanding between the Dominions and the Mother Country would be endangered, possibly greatly to the detriment of our exporting farmers, who enjoy valuable preferential privileges in the British market." With the exchange inflation against the Mother Country, New Zealand is off-side, and the penalty is likely to he heavy. Should this involve quota restrictions in addition to financial controversy and embarrassment, then one might reverently exclaim, "God help New Zealand," for the destructive work of the politicians will have just about completed its curse and lamentations. A. J. Stam/wortht.