NEW ZEALAND POLICY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23858, 12 July 1939, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND POLICY

OTTAWA TREATY VIOLATED VIEW OF INDUSTRIAL FEDERATION (From Oub Own Correspondent! LONDON;. June 15. New Zealand’s trade policy is regarded by the Federation of British Industries as a violation of the* Ottawa Agreement, it was stated after a meeting of the executive committee this week. j"The New Zealand Governments action in instituting, for the first six months of 1939, a severe system of licences and quotas to cover imports from this and other countries into the Dominion, followed by still further restrictions and a complete embargo on a large variety of British manufactures, is regarded by the Federation as an obvious breach of the Ottawa Agreement, and as contrary to the interests of the Empire as a whole,” it was stated. _ “ Further, the New Zealand Government’s offer to uplift licences, quotas, and embargoes in favour of manufacturers and suppliers who are willing to send goods to the Dominion and to allow the payment for these goods to remain in New Zealand for an unstated time at an unstated rate of interest is regarded as wholly unacceptable. The Federation is urging its member interests to refuse to carry on business on these terms. “ The Federation points out that New Zealand enjoys under the Ottawa Agreement the right of free entry for her products into the markets of this country (which already takes some 85 per cent, of her exports) but, at the same time, severely restricts, or refuses entry altogether, to British manufactured goods. The Federation is of the opinion that this state of affairs amounts to a complete violation of the Agreement, and urges that arrangements should be made for trade between the two. countries to be conducted on principles which bind equally both parties and operate fairly to their interests."