DUTCH WERE NOT PREPARED TO PAY PRICES ASKED

Chronicle (Levin), 12 April 1946, Page 5

DUTCH WERE NOT PREPARED TO PAY PRICES ASKED

t ^ Received Friday, 12.30 a.m. CANBERRA, April 11. The hold-up of vessels in Australian ports conld not "be enfirely hlamed for the cancellation of £8,000,000 worth of Dutch orders for the Netherlands East Indies, said the Prime Minister (Mr. Chifley) in the House of Representatives. He added that other fr.ctors entered into it, including a disagreement on prices and liputed purchasing resources. Mr. Chifley added that he did not know the partieular reason for the Dutch cancellation of the orders. He was not condoiiing the actiQn of the J wacerside workers, but the trouhle had i arisan in the first place because Dutch nutionals theipselves had walked off the sinps and refused to handle tfiem. ' * Certain . stateflients concerning the quantity of the goods the Dutcn are prepared to purchase in Anstralia are coinpietely inqccurate, ' ' said the Prime Minister. 4 ' The f act is that they were not prepared to accept our prices for the goods, and they would not place i their orders with Australia if they found they could get them cheaper j somewhere else. That is a so'und com- j mercial proposition and I have noj quarrel with it. We submjtted quotesj lor certain goods presumably required ' by the Dutch, and I iinderstand the ' same was done by New Zealand. Prom , memory, I think we received some orders. ' ' Mr. Chifley said there was no sentiment about trade negotiations. He was | sorry that Australia was likely to lose | all her trade with the Dutch.