DOLLAR SAVING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26545, 21 August 1947, Page 6

DOLLAR SAVING

MEASURES FOR AID OUTLINE BY MR NASH P.A. WELLLINGTON, Aug. 20. Ways in which New Zealand might assist Britain in her campaign to save dollars were suggested by the Minister of Finance, Mr Nash. Discussing the likelihood of our having to curtail imports n6t only from hard currency areas, but from Britain, he The Minister of Finance, Mr Nash, discussing the likelihood of our having to curtail imports not only from hard currency areas, but from Britain, said that already under the licensing system we bought from Britain all those goods which were obtainable in Britain. We actually had issued remittance authorities for £123.000,000, although our sterling balance was only £100,000,000, but the goods could not be obtained to anything like the value of the licences. Mr Nash said that Britain’s dollar position, which was already grave, had been made worse under the terms of the American loan, particularly the clauses as to non-discrimination and convertibility. The effect of these was that if Britain sought to reduce her imports from dollar countries she must similarly reduce imports from other sources while countries selling to Britain were entitled to ask for payment in dollars. Mr Nash said he thought the non-discrimination clause would have to go. Mr Nash said that all New Zealand import licences, whatever country they were issued for, could be used in Britain, but licences issued for Britain could not be used to buy goods elsewhere. The Americans at the Geneva trade conference had described that as the cruellest discrimination they had known, but New Zealand adhered to that system. ' Mr Nash said we spent more than £1,000,000 a year on tobacco. The value of licences for this year was £1,165,000. “I hope you will all agree with the policy followed in Britain, where they trebled the duty on tobacco to save dollars,” said Mr Nash. “ Cigarettes in Britain cost 2d each.” Mr Holland smilingly inquired if this were an indication of to-morrow’s Budget. Mr Nash said the conference should consider what Britain had done. If New Zealanders were willing to pay the increased price there would be some justification for crediting the extra amount of duty to Britain. That would at least help Britain, even if it did not save dollars. However, some means of saving dollars on tobacco imports was being sought. “ Think about that,” Mr Nash advised delegates. Mr Nash advised the newspaper proprietors at the conference to consider that New Zealand spent well over £1,000,000 a year on newsprint bought out of Britain’s loan. The people in Britain had four-page newspapers, whereas we sometimes had 12-page papers. Proprietors should think out means of reducing the size of papers so we would not use Britain’s dollar funds to provide us with news. That was manifestly unfair. Expenditure on Films Discussing films, Mr Nash said we sent away about £500,000 a year, also out of Britain’s loan, to pay for American films. These were not imported on licence but after the films had been shown and the tax deducted we allowed the balance to be remitted That was another problem for the conference to think over. Discussing oil and petrol, Mr Nash said he did not want to trespass on the sphere of his colleague, the Minister of Industries and Commerce, but he was amazed at the quantities of petrol we were buying from American sources. All the people of the Dominion would have to _ determine whether we could assist in this direction. The paramount need at present was to consume and use less from the hard currency countries and to produce more for export to them. This did not mean closing factories but the position might be helped by encouraging older people and young people to work more as they did during the war. Mr Nash said the idea should not be entertained that he would import nothing from the United States, but the test would be whether the goods were imperative for our immediate needs or to. aid our production for Britain. Licences for purchases in the United States were now being reviewed on this standard, and although no contracts would have to be broken licences which did not yet involve contracts would be reconsidered. Mr Nash declared that New Zealand could save millions of dollars a year by speeding up the turn-round of ships, thus reducing chartering charges. He added that it was only fair to point out that in Auckland, for instance, there was practically nothing to export at present, the stores having been emptied, but the task of the watersiders and others would be to prevent the stores being refilled later by keeping goods moving rapidly into the ships’ holds. Another suggestion by Mr Nash was that New Zealand might be able to supply certain manufactured goods to Britain even if Britain was already manufacturing similar goods if thereby Britain would be enabled to export more of her,, own goods to hard currency areas.