POST-WAR WORLD TRADE

Southland Times, Issue 25434, 5 August 1944, Page 7

POST-WAR WORLD TRADE

COMMITMENTS MADE BY N.Z. (P.A.) WELLINGTON, August 4. New Zealand’s involvement in international economic events and her moral and material commitments towards the reconstruction of the war-ravaged world were summarized in an address by the Minister of Finance, (the Hon. W. Nash) to the dairy conference. No conference had greater implications, he said, than the recently-concluded World Monetary Conference. Dealing with the circumstances which he considered from an international point of view affected the primary producers of New Zealand, Mr Nash recalled the lend-lease agreement of 1941 and the subsequent agreements between the United Kingdom and the separate Dominions with the United States for mutual aid. Article 7 of the mutual aid or reciprocal aid agreements, he said, had an important feature for the prim-ary-producing countries. This stated that there should be non-discrimina-tory treatment in the trade of the respective countries of the world. It was at first inferred from that , article that the United Kingdom and the Dominions would abolish their preferential tariffs, but since then it had been stated by Mr Churchill that it was known to America beforehand that the term “non-discriminatory” did not mean the abolition of preferential trade withm the British Commonwealth. IMPORTANT DECISIONS

It had been agreed to go further into the whole commercial policy of Britain and the United States, Mr Nash continued. There had been discussions in London on commodity contracts and cartel policy. Without any publicity being given them, these discussions had taken place with the idea of determining the policies of both the United Kingdom and the United States. Then there would be a United Nations conference. The' world conference stage had already been reached on one phase, the monetary aspect, at Bretton Woods. That conference was probably one of the most impprtant in history. From the world point of view no conference had greater implications. Neither the British nor the New Zealand Government was committed to what had come out of that conference. This conference, Mr Nash said, had been preceded a year earlier by the World Food Conference at Hot Springs, Virginia, where it had been stated that one-half of the world’s population had never had enough to eat. The constitution of the organization arising out of that conference was now almost complete. The Government of New Zealand, he expected, would adhere to it, and already a contribution had been made to the building up of what was to be known as the “Food and Agricultural Organization of the World. It was proposed, Mr Nash said, that each Government should allocate 1 per cent, of its national income, and on our Estimates New Zealand’s contribution would be £2,600,000. The United States would contribute more than 1,000,000,000 dollars, Britain £80,000,000, and Australia £12,000,000. It had been agreed, however, that in every case only 10 per cent, of the contribution would be in overseas currency and the balance in the products of the particular country. That meant that New Zealand would have to find £260,000 in actual cash for UNRRA. The third world conference or relative importance was that of the International Labour Office at Philadelphia, continued Mr Nash. Details were worked out at the Monetary Conference to ensure as far as possible the avoidance of slumps in the, future. That did not mean that they would be avoided, but then.' intensity and effects would be reduced. New Zealand had such a wellbalanced economy that he hoped that in the post-war years she would not have to have recourse to the World Monetary Fund which was being established.

NEW ZEALAND’S CONTRIBUTION Each country, it was proposed, should make a contribution to the suggested pool of 8,000,000,000 dollars on the basis of 10 per cent, in gold and the balance in its own currency, Mr Nash said. New Zealand’s contribution was fixed at 50,000,000 dollars, and that might run into anything between £500,000 and £700,000 in gold. Though their commitments still had to be ratified by their respective Governments, the United Kingdom, the United States and Russia had reconciled their points of view. An establishment was being set up to keep as even a balance of world trade as possible when depressions or booms were likely to upset parity. The work of the Bank for Reconstruction and Development would be exclusively inside the terms of its name—the provision of money by way of loans to the countries which had been occupied and then liberated for the reconstruction of their economies, so that they would get goods to exchange for our products. Mr Nash said he firmly believed that outside some flaws in the proposals, to which he would possibly object, this was the greatest advance yet made in human history to expand production and raise living standards. He was satisfied that those conferences, if they had the vision to implement their work, would be more fruitful in building better conditions in this and other countries than anything that had ever been done.