POST-WAR TRADE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25804, 27 March 1945, Page 6

POST-WAR TRADE

DOMINION’S POLICY

MANUFACTURED GOODS “ I think there will probably be considerable changes in the relative values and proportions of commodities imported into this country, as compared with pre-war times,” said Mr D. A. Ewen, in his presidential address to the annual meeting of the New Zealand Softgoods Federation in Wellington. “We are establishing factories for making some goods locally that were previously imported. This is very desirable in many respects, but we must never forget that New Zealand’s export wealth lies chiefly, indeed, in an overwhelming degree, in her primary products from the soil. “It would be a thousand pities, almost an economic tragedy, if we were to try to manufacture here goods that can be more cheaply imported, keeping such industries on their feet by means of subsidies or arbitrary import selection. “ The war has taught us that there are some things we ought to manufacture, perhaps, to a certain degree in the national interest, but there are many things for which we must depend on the outside world, relying on the keeping open ’by the IVlother Country, the Empire, and our friendly allies, of our lines of communication. This should be a cheaper insurance than building up at great expense uneconomic manufactures.

“Although the time has not come to relax controls, it is quite possible to hand specific problems back to industry and lay down the priorities within which a solution must be found. It is no longer enough to make speeches on general principles. Orders for plant and equipment must be placed now if delivery is not to be unduly delayed. The need for keeping transition plans flexible is no excuse for putting off decisions on the part which individual industries are expected to play.” Mr Ewen said that it was to Britain we must look for our markets still, and it was on her we depended for prosperity. If there was one fact that stood out above all others, it was that after the war Britain must build up her exports.