EXCHANGE RATE

Wairarapa Daily Times, 12 March 1932, Page 4

EXCHANGE RATE

NO INTERFERENCE.

STATEMENT BY MINISTER

The Government does not propose to interfere with the rate of exchange, according to a statement made by the Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Downie Stewart, when replying to a question, asked by Mr C. A. Wilkinson (Hid., Egmont), in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon. The Minister also announced that in the meantime the Government did not consider it advisable to make any alterations in the regulations for effecting a pooling of the exchange resources. “I am fully alive to the fact that the exchange question is causing much concern to mercantile firms and otlieis, said Mr Stewart. “ N lt is for this reason that the Government has given much time to the consideration of every aspect of the problem, and has made repeated efforts to bring about an agreement between all interested parties. So far, however, these efforts have not been successful, and in any case, before any alteration in present arrangements can be made, the concurrence must be obtained of London interests which undertook certain obligations on behalf of the Dominion on the faith of the arrangements made m New Zealand to meet the overseas emergency. “In recent times many Governments have found it necessary to take control of the exchanges in much the same way as the New Zealand Government found it necessary to create the exchange pool owing to a sudden emergency arising in the London money amrket. “The pool was created not for the purpose of keeping down the exchange rate, but as a precautionary measure to see that adequate funds could be purchased for Government requirements, and that all exchange credits were conserved and used in the best interests ot the Dominion of New Zealand. In a national emergency of this nature, national requirements must take piecec - enee over private or sectional interests, and some measure of restriction on individual freedom must inevitably be accepted in the public wclfaic. “Conditions in. the London money market,” Mr Stewart- continued, “are improving rapidly, and if the present favourable tendency continues the Government may in due course find it possible to get some relief from the stringent conditions which rendered necessary the formation of the exchange pool. In this event, a reconsideration of the present conditions imposed in New Zealand will be possible, and I can assure the lion, member that the regulations will not be maintained any longer than is necessary to ensure Government requirements being met. In conclusion, I may say that the Government does not- propose to interfere with the rate of exchange, and in the meantime does not- consider it advisable to make any alterations in the regulations for effecting a pooling of the exchange resources. ’ ’