REDUCTION BY 50 PER CENT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 3, 5 January 1939, Page 8

REDUCTION BY 50 PER CENT

GOODS IMPORTED BY ONE FIRM SMALL BRITL.I PREFERENCE [ Per Press Association - J AUCKLAND, Jan. 4. Over half the quantity of the goods normally purchased by an Auckland firm from manufacturers in about 10 overseas countries are stated to be prohibited under the drastically-re-stricted licences which the company received from the Customs Department to-day. Many articles, some of which, it is claimed, cannot be manufactured in New Zealand, are totally disallowed, while others are to be permitted in such small quantities as to be practically valueless. Application was made for permission to import £l4OO worth of brushware manufactured in six countries, but the firm had been allowed to obtain £BO worth of these articles from Great Britain and none from other States. The principal of the firm said that continental barometers were completely banned, and for a particular type of brushware which was definitely not made in the Dominion application to spend a little less than £2OOO resulted in a licence of under £lOO. The work of years in building up the sale of many varying types of articles was now wasted, he continued. Seven years ago they had sold the first box of a popular line of Egyptian cigarette papers and now

apparently, they had sold tne last, as 1 further importations had been refused. Last year a new agency for perfumery had been undertaken, and 12 months’ effort in developing the market was now nullified by the Customs prohibition. There was no question of protection for local industries when hand mirrors weer under consideration, however. The firm's im[poriation of these from foreign countries was vetoed, and only two per cent, of the amount it sought from Britain was allowed. Tobacco, pipes and pouches from Britain were permitted in the quantity sought, but the same articles from France, where all the cheap pipes were made, were reduced to one-sixth of the figure applied for. “In cutting down our importations by fully 50 per cent, the department has shown a slight preference for British goods. However, these have also suffered very severely,” the importer said. “Unless there is an immediate change in the system complete reorganisation of our business will be necessary, and the service of more than half the staff will no longer be required.” It was possible to appeal against the licences, but appeals would, no doubt, be judged by the same people who had made the rules and regulations. No real method or system seemed to underly the drastic reductions, and, in fairness to trade, it was essential that the basis on which import quotas were calculated should be published. Without this the firms had no means of determining whether or not they were being treated unfairly.