BETTER BASIS SOUGHT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26848, 12 August 1948, Page 6

BETTER BASIS SOUGHT

ISSUANCE OF IMPORT LICENCES CLAIMS BY MANUFACTURERS P.A. AUCKLAND, Aug. 11. An improved basis for issuing import licences for raw materials and a change in the expiry date for licences are being considered by the Government in consequence of the recent talks between executive members of the council • of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation and the Minister of Customs, Mr Nash, the Minister of Industries and Commerce, Mr Nordmeyer, and their senior departmental officers. “We are particularly concerned to secure a basis more closely related to present-day requirements for industry compared with those of 1938, the year which is still used as the basis for licensing,” said the president of the federation, Mr S. Howard Hunter, to-day. The federation also pressed for an alteration of the expiry date of licences on December 31 each year, which had proved most unsuitable, causing congestion on the wharves in order to avoid sacrificing any of the goods due under licences. “This means shipments arriving when most of the warehouse and factory staffs were on holiday,” Mr Hunter explained. While no decision had been made, he added that the federation expected an early helpful Ministerial announcement.