IMPORTS INCREASE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 167, 31 May 1940, Page 5

IMPORTS INCREASE

COMPARATIVE FIGURES QUOTED G OVERNOR-G ENER AL'S ADDRESS (By To 1 egrap h —Wc 11 ingt on ) "The exports for the year ended 31st March, 1940, amount ed in value to £59,643,000, an increase of £1,776,000 as compared with the previous year and exceeded only in the years 1937 and 1938," said His Excellency, the Governor-General, in his address to Parliament. "Imports for the year ended 31st March, 1940, totalled £45,571,000, compared with £54,408,000 for the previous year, a decrease of £8,837,000. The substantial decrease is attributable firstly to my Government's import selection policy, and secondly to the physical difficulty of obtaining imports which is the result of war conditions." "In giving cfTect to the policy of import selection preference is given where possible, firstly to goods of United Kingdom origin; secondly to goods from other units of the British Commonwealth, and thirdly to goods from other countries within the sterling area. The public accounts, which reflect very intimately the economic conditions within the Dominion, closed with a surplus of £319,000. "This surplus was achieved notwithstanding the extra expenditure incurred as a result of the introduction of Social Security benefits in accordance with legislation passed during last session."