A REMARKABLE APPEAL

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 10963, 27 July 1921, Page 4

A REMARKABLE APPEAL

GOVERNMENTS & TRADING BANKERS CONDEMN POLITICAL INTERFERENCE. ‘ ‘RESTRICTIVE BARRIERS.’ ’ A somewhat remarkable appeal, signed by the leading bankers of London — an appeal by the “Economist’ as “unanswerable in its clear and simple logic, and fortified by an impressive array of the most authoritative names in the city’-’—-has been forwarded to the Imperial Government. It is said to have been accepted generally in hanking and trade circles as a most timely protest against the Imperial Government’s trade policy and, it is stated, “will be marked as such by the oountry.” “A hundred years ago,” this important document says, “in a time of depression following a great war, the merchants of London presented to Parliament a memorable petition against the ‘Anti-Commercial Principles’ of the restrictive system then in force. Today, moved by the same anxieties, weighed down by far heavier taxation, and face to face with proposals, intended to renew the restrictive methods of the past, we submit that it is essential to the revival of confidence ch.vt no legislative or administrative measures should he taken which would diminish the total output of British industry or check the free exchange of British goods. “The burden of taxation can only be lightened if the necessity for public economy is resolutely faced. The present rate of national expenditure threatens to cripple the country’s resources and to impair its credit abroad. In our judgment it is more than the commercial community con bear, more than the capacity of the nation can afford, more than, were proper economies effected, the nation need be asked to sustain. EFFECT OF GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE. “The system of Government regulating trade by licenses, controls, and departmental orders has, admittedly, however well-intended, had in many coses unfortunate results. Political interference with the natural course of commerce without regard to economic laws invariably does mischief. British trade needs nothing so much for its recovery as freedom to deal with its own difficulties, to study and provide for its own interests, and to work out its own salvation. “It is as true as it was a hundred years ago that foreign commerce conduces to the wealth and prosperity of a country by enabling it to import the commodities which other countries are best able to supply and to export m payment those articles which from its own situation it is best adapted to produce; that freedom from restraint is calculated to give the utmost extension to foreign trade and the best direction to capital and industry: and that the maxim of buying in the cheapest market and selling m the dearest, which regulates every merchant in his individual dealings, is the best rule lor the trade .of the whole nation. A BLOW AT COMMERCE. - '‘The policy of trying to exclude the productions of ether countries, with the well-meant .design of encouraging our own, cannot increase the volume of commerce -or the total volume of employment here. But it may well compel the consumers, who form the hulk of .our population, to submit to privations in the quality or quantity of the goods they buy. The importation of foreign goods does not diminish the activities of our people, because such goods can only, be paid for by the produce of British capital and labour. The advocates of a restrictive system are apt to lose sight of the elementary fact that nations, or rather individual members of nations, buy -foreign goods because they need them, not to benefit others, but to benefit themselves, and pay for them by producing goods which the foreigner in his turn requires. We cannot limit imports into tins country without limiting our export trade, and striking a grave blow at the worldwide commerce on which this island kingdom principally depends. PREVENTING RECOVERY OF TRADE. “Trade is exchange. No nation which hves by trading with others can prosper unless other nations .prosper too. We hold to-day great stocks of goods. We are ready to manufacture ' more. There is a large and insistent demand for them abroad. But owing to the paralysis of Continental commerce—due in part to the restricts e barriers which the new States have set up between themselves —the would-be buyers of our goods have not the means to pay for what they want. We have to build up tlie market that we need by encouraging Continental nations to export to us. For it is only by exports that they can re-establish their credit and provide funds for the .payment of their debts. In such a situation we believe that all expedients to control and hamper imports into this country, whether by licenses, tariffs, or any other means, can only retard improvement in the Continental exchanges .and prevent the natural recovery of trade. Legislation of this nature while it may increase the profits of a few selected industries, cannot fail to check our output as a whole, and to increase the costs of production to a level which may make it increasingly difficult for British traders to compete successfully with others in the markets pf the world.

“With party or political considerations we, as hankers, are not concerned. But in the interests of British industry and commerce, now menaced by anxieties which it would be a profound mistake to underrate, we desire to enter a respectful protest against every restrictive regulation of trade which tends to diminish the resources of the State.”