RECIPROCAL TRADE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22512, 1 September 1936, Page 15

RECIPROCAL TRADE

NEW ZEALAND IMPORTS CONSIDERATION FOR BRITAIN Tho position whereby floods formerly supplied to New Zealand by tho United Kingdom are now being obtained from Australia, mainly because of the exchange advantage enjoyed by it, and the concern of English manufacturers at the inroads of Japanese imports -to the Dominion are matters the gravity of which has been stressed to the Government by the United Kingdom Manufacturers and New Zealand Representatives' Association, according to its annual report. How imports from tho United Kingdom may be increased and details of specific lines are to bo the subject*of a case to be submitted to the Minister of Customs, the report adds. The year 1036 was likely to be a momentous one for British trade with New Zealand. The Government was well aware of the Dominion's dependence on the British market for the sale of primary produce, and of tho necessity for reciprocal trade. A complicating factor was the desire to foster local industry, if economic, and the difficulty of past Governments in differentiating between economic and uneconomic local industry. "Whether the Government will carr> out its reciprocal trade proposals by means of tariffs or licensing of imports is not yet known," states the report "It appears difficult to reconcile a secondary industry policy with reciprocal trade policy.unless some form of restriction of certain lines of imports is adopted. Countries which in the past have refused to reciprocate with New Zealand cannot expect to continue sending their manufactured goods hero to tho detriment of the country which has willingly taken all the produce we wished to send."