MR. BALDWIN'S ANSWER

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22198, 27 August 1935, Page 8

MR. BALDWIN'S ANSWER

There is no immediate prospect of New Zealand being able to conclude a reciprocal trade agreement with Britain, separate from the other Dominions. So much is clear from the letters exchanged between Mr. Coates and Mr. Baldwin when Mr. Coates was in London a few weeks ago. The letters should finally answer those in New Zealand who persistently assert that, by the offer of further tariff concessions to British manufacturers and, incidentally, by sacrificing New Zealand industries and those employed in them, the Dominion could obtain specially favoured treatment for her primary produce entering the British market. Mr. Coates put a direct question to Mr. Baldwin. Was it .feasible, or was it likely that in the measurable future it would be feasible, for the British Government to contemplate a bilateral reciprocal trade agreement with one Dominion 1 So far as he could, Mr. Baldwin seems to have tried to avoid giving a direct answer. Why should he not have been explicit 1 Can there be any doubt that if Mr. Coates' proposition had been welcome, or even acceptable, it would have received a direct affirmative 1 Obviously Mr. Baldwin chose a gentle and roundabout way of saying a separate reciprocal trade agreement was not feasible now or in the measurable future. It is possible, also, that Mr. Baldwin remembered the running fire of interjections and questions Mr. Thomas had to face in the House of Commons on the same issue, and has chosen the soft answer. He conveys quite clearly, however, that there can be no question, without good cause, of making separate pacts with particular Dominions during the currency of the Ottawa agreements, which apply to all without discrimination. In any case no variation of that principle will be admitted without prior consultation at an Imperial Conference. In short, a separate trade agreement with Britain is not at present practical politics.