The Waikato Times TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1940 DOMINION’S OVERSEAS TRADE

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21184, 6 August 1940, Page 4

The Waikato Times TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1940 DOMINION’S OVERSEAS TRADE

With the exceptionally high export total of £65,859,000, imports reduced by £10,430,000 to £46,070,000 and a favourable balance of £19,789,000, New Zealand has experienced a very successful overseas trade year. Although it must be remembered that this result has been influenced by favourable climatic conditions and the most rigid control of imports, on the financial face of it the position does give reason for greater confidence. On the imports side a reduction of £10,000,000 has not been achieved without a great deal of anxiety and in many cases definite hardship and loss of business. The fact that imports are still high among the figures of the past decade is of little comfort to those who legitimately built up their import businesses on the position as it was.

The improvement of £7,968,000 in the value of exports, although to some extent aided by higher prices, is the most gratifying feature of the returns. Conditions favourable to production prevailed through the greater part of the year, however, and it would not be wise to rely upon a repetition of that output should the climate be less kind. But if the season now opening is equally favourable, combined with the special country-wide war effort, this season should see fresh records established and a trade balance still more favourable. The prospect gives some assurance that New Zealand will at least be able to meet without undue strain the additional financial obligations undertaken by Mr Nash. But nothing should be left to chance. The Dominion must produce and export to the limit of its capacity.

Tt can be hoped that New Zealand’s exultation over its export figures is not entirely selfish. Britain needed a greater output of Empire commodities and called for it. Therefore New Zealand has cause for satisfaction that it has succeeded in making a greater contribution towards the war effort. But it should not be forgotten for a moment that the whole trade structure rests on the foundation represented by Britain. Had Britain been weaker than it is—had the Royal Navy been swept off the seas—then New Zealand would have been lost and the great overseas markets which alone sustain the country economically would have disappeared. In any approach to the subject it must be remembered that the trade balance has been improved to the extent of over £10,000,000 by cutting down imports upon which Britain itself depends economically. Besides seeking greater imports Britain is also striving desperately to maintain or increase exports, and the Dominions are important markets for those exports. New Zealand was, of course, spending at a rate which endangered the national finances, and some kind of corrective was necessary. Heavy reductions have already been effected and the Dominion must endeavour to strike a reasonable balance suitable to itself and to Britain. One-way trade that produces unnecessarily large balances is not a desirable part of Empire policy which, particularly during the war, must be wholeheartedly coocerative