IMPORT CONTROL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 71, Issue 6136, 14 September 1945, Page 5

IMPORT CONTROL

LACK OF FLEXIBILITY “ It is the lack of flexibility in the system that angers retailers more than the actual restrictions themselves,” says the New Zealand Draper in an editorial discussing import control. “ The authorities proceed to go through all the forms and procedures, the applications, investigations, and letter chains, while buyers are seething to take advantage of any temporary improvement in selling positions overseas. They see chances of improving the stock position slip away while they are impotent to act without the necessary licenses. “ Has anything been done, for instance, regarding the goods which were offering to New Zealand from Canada in April and May of this year shirts, pyjamas, and men’s other clothing, women’s suits, cotton frocks, and stockings among others ? Will anything be done before the chance to acquire these urgentlyneeded goods is gone ? Or will the Government, blinded following the Garment Control Council, which does not think in terms other than local production, continue to imagine the position cannot be met by other that means ?

“ There is urgent need, even at this late stage, for a revision of the control system permitting retailers some freedom in taking advantage of favourable overseas market conidtions. If the main idea is to conserve overseas funds, then let limitations be placed on the total involved in such dealings, but the retailers—and ultimately the consumers—should not be frustrated in their legitimate demands by the operation of a licensing system which has become a master instead of a national servant.”