THE OTAGO DAIY TIMES Thursday, May 24, 1945. IMPORT RESTRICTIONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25852, 24 May 1945, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAIY TIMES Thursday, May 24, 1945. IMPORT RESTRICTIONS

British manufacturers are, as the Leader of the Opposition has learned in the course of his timely visit to the United Kingdom, seriously concerned about the policy of the Government of the Dominion in relation to trade. The preoccupation of the Mother Country with the war led to an industrial revolution of which the termination is now in sight. The need, for the production of munitions of war on an unprecedented scale could only be met by the use for this purpose of the machinery, power, and labour that had previously been applied to. the production of commodities that had in time of peace been exported to all parts of the world. The effect was that the export trade of the United Kingdom was cut to ribbons. While in this way Britain sacrificed the means by which she had in j large measure been enabled to pay | for her imports, she found it neces- # sary to spend immensely more* overseas than her total current income from abroad. In fact, she parted with many of her best foreign investments to the value of a thousand million pounds sterling. She incurred, moreover, new foreign obligations amounting to between two and three times that prodigious sum. Now that the war with Germany has been victoriously concluded, Great Britain must set about building up 'her export trade once more. It is a matter of urgent necessity that she should do so. It is only by selling exports that she can pay for. her imports. She has been a good customer to New Zealand—the best customer this Dominion has ever had. And it is not without reason that she has hoped that the Dominion will reciprocate —that it will admit her goods as freely as she admits the products of New Zealand or, at least, that the Dominion will not needlessly set up artificial barriers against the admission of British goods. But it is complained by British manufacturers that the policy of import restrictions which is in force in New Zealand and which is not a war policy, for it was introduced before the war started, is actually prohibiting the importation in the Dominion of a large range of articles that are manufactured in the United Kingdom. Moreover, it is complained that this policy involves a breach of faith on the part of the Government of the Dominion. British manufacturers are not unaware of the undertaking which Mr Nash gave to their Government in 1939, when he went Home in order, cap in hand, to beg relief for his Government from an embarrassing position into which, through its financial mismanagement, it had drifted. That undertaking is recorded in a White Paper to which the signature of Mr Nash, as well as that of Mr Oliver Stanley, at that time President of the Board of Trade, is attached. From that paper we make the following extracts: Recognising that the scale of restrictions imposed in the present period is abnormal, Mr Nash, on behalf of the New Zealand Government, undertook that, as circumstances permit, the New Zealand Government would do its utmost by the relaxation of restrictions to ensure the maximum expansion of trade between the United Kingdom and New Zealand, consistently with the maintenance of sound economic conditions in New Zealand and the Government’s obligations to existing industries.

Mr Nash assured United Kingdom Ministers that it was not the intention of the New Zealand Government to employ the import licensing policy in order to give protection to New Zealand industry against imports of United Kingdom goods on a scale which prevented full opportunity of reasonable competition. He explained that difficulties arose in cases where the New Zealand Government had already incurred obligations by taking action to encourage the establishment of industries which, in the opinion of his Government, required some measure of restriction of import in order to operate efficiently. He undertook to investigate the matter fully on his return to New Zealand, and gave an assurance that, pending this investigation of the position, such protection would not be extended to other industries.

It is difficult to contend that the undertaking which Mr Nash gave in 1939 and similar undertakings that have been given by members of the Government of the Dominion since 1939 have been honoured. The complaint which British manufacturers are making does not lack substantial foundation. It is not disposed of by the smooth phrases which have fallen from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Supply, as well as Mr Nash, in their references to trade policy.