THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, October 23, 1939. A DOMESTIC EMERGENCY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23946, 23 October 1939, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES MONDAY, October 23, 1939. A DOMESTIC EMERGENCY

The statement by the Minister of Finance on the extension of import restrictions to cover a third term of six months from January to June, 1940, is phrased in the usual vague and optimistic terms which have become characteristic of his exposition of financial and relevant questions. The restrictions themselves are definite enough—for many sections of the commercial community alarmingly so. But the telegram from Auckland reporting the dismissal from a hardware firm of twenty-five employees as a result of the further limitation of imports is a much more explicit commentary upon the effects of the Government’s control policy than the Minister has vouchsafed. To put it bluntly, the extended restrictions mean that many business enterprises in the Dominion which rely largely on the sale of imported commodities will be forced to curtail their operations drastically, and in extreme cases may find it necessary to close their doors. The increase in unemployment and the general widespread disruption in commerce that must be occasioned by such developments represent, however, only part of the hardship that the community must suffer. The restrictions so sweepingly limit importations of certain classes of goods that the consuming public will find itself faced with the necessity of limiting its use of, or doing without, many commodities which they may have come to regard as almost of an essential nature. The argument that such goods might be defined in the broadest sense as luxuries may scarcely console consumers ijor the loss of amenities to which they have become accustomed. To the suggestion that their requirements may be met by New Zealand industry, the president of the Manfacturers’ Federation has made a somewhat discouraging reply. The third term import ■ schedules, he points out, have been announced at so late a stage that local industry will not be in a position to meet all demands, since the necessary, materials cannot be made available, especially under the emergency of war, except over a long period ahead. Furthermore, manufacturers’ requirements in imported materials are restricted to the 1938 level, while the demand on their productive capacity must necessarily increase tremendously above that of the years when the importation of manufactured goods was unregulated, except by normal processes. That the new schedules do to some extent assist the Government’s policy of granting preference to the United Kingdom is true, though Mr Nash may recall that on his visit to England this year he did not find British manufacturers wholeheartedly endorsing the argument that the best way of assisting them on the New Zealand market was to limit purchases from them while more drastically limiting purchases from other countries. He can scarcely, in any case, claim particular merit for allowing a measure of, preference to United Kingdom products, when it is upon funds domiciled in England that New Zealand must rely for meeting both its overseas loan obligations and its restricted purchases from abroad. The plain fact of the matter is that the more severe import control schedules will add further to the difficulties of the New Zealand commercial community while only very gradually and uncertainly extending fresh opportunities to New Zealand industry. They will deprive the people of New Zealand of many modest luxuries and near-necessities, thereby in effect reducing the standard of living in this community. Coming upon the country in a time of war, they must impose an extra strain upon the people’s reserves of fortitude, upon unemployment relief, and upon the resources of local industry, which it is not in a position immediately to take. Yet even Mr Nash has not ventured, except perhaps by implication, to justify this increased interference with the New Zealand economy as a war measure, necessitated by the challenge to democracy that all must ungrudgingly accept. It has been occasioned simply by a near-sighted and disastrous policy of public spending beyond the means of the State, pursued ; recklessly by the present Governj ment over the past four years.