TRADE HAMPERED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 714, 18 March 1933, Page 31 (Supplement)

TRADE HAMPERED.

Effect in N.Z. of High Exchange. MR COATES CHALLENGED. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, March 18. The recently published contention of Mr Coates that there was no room for difference of opinion on the wisdom of maintaining the present high rate of exchange is challenged by the Importers’ Federation. A statement by the president (Mr E. P. Salmond) says: “It is -understandable that the Minister of Finance should blandly declare it is becoming increasingly realised that the course taken was wise and justified. Mr Coates's dutY to himself and his Government as a politician inspires him to create as favourable an atmosphere as possible for even the most reckless and dangerous legislation. The plain fact, however, is that it is becoming increasingly realised by people of all sections, including the primary producers, who hoped for so much from the increase, that the step taken has proved to be worse than even the ardent opponents of the increase fore-

“ Not only has the supposed benefit to the farmer been proved illusory by the increasing casts with which he is confronted but he now finds himself threatened with severe restriction of the oversea market. In addition, trade and commerce everywhere have been hampered by increased costs and taxes, added purely as a result of the exchange. “Imports Dwindling.”

“The Government is now faced with the obligation to purchase the balance of the English money held by New Zealand banks on demand. Imports into the Dominion are dwindling fast, and the demand for English money is contracting so rapidly that it appears inevitable that the citizens of this country will be called upon to purchase huge funds at the grotesquely inflated price of £125 in New Zealand money for each £IOO of the oversea balances.

“Mr Coates’s statement that to permit the rate of exchange to fall would be disastrous cannot be substantiated by any tangible fact. It is the considered opinion of the Federation that to permit the rate to remain at its present dangerous and artificial level would be far more disastrous for the community as a whole.