MR. NASH HOPES BUDGET WILL RE SATISFACTORY

Chronicle (Levin), 22 July 1946, Page 8

MR. NASH HOPES BUDGET WILL RE SATISFACTORY

Press Assn.-

Finance Minister Arrires Back In New Zealand

By Telegraph

-Copynght

WELLINGTON, July 21. " ' And it's good to be liome again," saicl the Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Nash, at the conclusion of a Press eonferenee lasting one fcour this afternoon, following his return to New Zealand from his overseas mission. Mr. Nash and party landed at Ohakea yesterday afternoon in an li.A.F. Transport Oomniand Lancastrian niaeliine piloted by Squadron Leader Braclshaw wlio liao an all-New Zealand erew, the same one which recently broke the record for the flight between Britain and New Zealand. Mr. Nash, despite the strain of the trip, said he was in better health than t'or a long tirne past. Asked when the Budget would be introdueed, Mr. Nash said before he went f..way the date fixed for him to be ready was August 8 with a deadline of August 15, but he could not say whether tliat would work out now. He had most of the necessary material, knew the frame work and had an idea of what he ought to say. He would be discussing the Budget with the Government within the next weelc but could not give an exact date for its introduction be1'ore eoni'erring with Mr. Fraser. Asked which of tlie two Hutt Valley seals he would contest at. the general election, he replied: "1 haven't givon thought to it. 1 hope I will continue to represent llutt but 1 can do that by tuking eilher of tliem." t Mr. Nash said his remark in a London interview ahout a Budget that would win -the election ''was just a smiling remark." He hoped, however, that the Budget would be satisfactory. "I think it might "be. You never can teii." Asked "ahout his negotiations in L011don for the new bulk produce agreements, Mr. Nash said that while.iinality had not becu reached and some detaila still had to be worked out, it should be possiblc for him to make some statement of the question within a reasonablv short time. "The most ama/ing acliievement of its kind in history," was Mr. Nash's observation on tlie negotiations between the Britisli Cabinet Mission and Indian leaders. These negotiations, he said,

aimed to pass the Government of :>.)(),- 000. 000 or more people, by agreement from one Sovereign power to another and whatever the Jinal outcome, the Britisli Cabinet Mission deserved the highest credit for the way thev worked out their proposals. .Mr. Nash said he was satisfied Britain could uot have done other than she 1.ad done regarding Egypt. lieferring to the payment of New Zealand 's seeond Unrra contribution, Mr. Nash said the Government was anxious to get rid of our liability in either goods or money. The goods wanted were mostlv the foodstuft's which we weie selling to Britain and if we eonld not supply the necessary goods to Unrra, tiie.chances were we would pay. Dollars and Sterling. • The Ameriean loan to Britain would help New Zealand to the extent that it 111 ado dollars available to buv goods we could not buy well in other places, but that did not' mean there would be un limited dollars. "Britain will still have a tough run to buy all the raw mater ials she requires to manufacture goods aiul to buy goods she eannot do witliout," lie' added. However, Britain would be in a much more advantageous positiou than if the loan had not been granted and it would also help the Britisli Dominions. Britain had hever refused us dollars for anything we wanted, he said, but the Government 's policy had always been not to make dollars available to any person in New Zealand for the purpose for which the Britisli Government deelined dollars to its own people. Discussiug the convertability of sterling Mr. Nash said tlie existing sterling lialances were safeguarded under the terms of tlie loan but countries obtain ing sterling in future would have the right, ,&) convM) it ;intQ apyi^urrqq^y^ Th t|fe '--Svo frhi.t Ma hig * at ; b etApetf ,.\rew. ZpaljtifJihill Byituid./ abput0tftaf; 1 ni $ tip' gtdrfi ng} lialances nuiglit be -'fnore.' pressing npon Britain. After 1951 it was lToped that sterling and dollar pools would disappear and that either currency would be available for the purchase of goods in anv country. Imperial Preference. There was 110 questiou of Imperial preference. as sueli, liavin^' lieen covered bi'" tlie lond-lease settlement. That settlement referred back to thc Atlantic Cliarter which said international trade arrangements were subject to existing obligatious. Imperial preference was certainly an existing obliga-

tion. What Britain had agreed to do was to scale down tariffs and on a reeiprocal basis — bargain for bagain with United States — to reduee Imperial preferences. Our policy was to maintain our preference for Britain and our preference in Britain. If, however, at the request of Britain and for the benefit of Britain we could reduee some of our preferences in exchange for tariff reductions by United States, there would be no harm in that. New Zealand 's import selection policy was not affected by the loan. Our import selection and exchange control policies were within the framework of Bretton Woods. The question of our acceptance of the Bretton Woods' agreement was for Parliament to determine but it would be diflicult and peeuliar for us to keep out if Britain were in and Britain had now agreed to uecept Bretton Woods. She did so because United States granted tlie loan. Trade Conferences. Mr. Nash said a series of important . international conferences to proniote inlernatioual trade were seheduled for coming montlis, ciilminating in a major world conferonce next March or later. Tn the preliminary Britisli Uommonwealth discussions, New Zealand had st ressed the iinportanee of full emplovriieiil and would do everything possible to promote world trade without jeopardising full emplovinent aml full living slandards. . Mr. Nash said Mr. Attlee still hoped to come to New Zealand but the timo of his visit depended on tlie World Peace Conference which was seheduled to take (! to 7 weeks but might take as many montlis. It miglit be next year before Mr. Attlee was able to make the trip. Mr. Nash oonsidorod Brilain would be no worse off as tlie resnlt ot the receut agreement for tlie sale of New Zealand butter to United States forces in tlie Pacific. There was an agreenient in writing for ITnilO'l States to supply Britain with corresponding fats but whether the substitute fats would be measured by weight, by food value or by monetary value, had not to his knowledge, been determined. The people in Britain were get t ing enongh to eat but could not always get the foods

tliey wanted. Standing in qneues was a tiring and worrying business. "Tlie Britisli people are splendid," he said. "There is some irritatiou about bread rationing but Britain is in great heart. Thev are an amazing people. The food position is tough but thev take it as well as anyone, and civilian production is going up by leaps and bounds." Afr. Nash said rationing was likely to, last for a year or two yet in Britain and as long as we could help by maintaining our rationing svstem here, it would be the natural thing to do so. All the Dominions at the Commonvvealth Conferences had agreed that Britain 's burden in paying £1,200,000,000 this year for defenee was too great and that the Dominions must eontri- j bute more to their own defenee. There j were certaiu wavs in which we could | carrv greater respousibilitv. The ques- 1 tion of conscription to fulfil our de-| fence obligatious was, however, entirely for tlie Government and Parliament of New Zealand to determine. Mr. Nash said he discussed in London and with Mr. Dean Achesou in Washington, the c|uestion of Pacific liases. We wanted the Americans in the South Pacific to co-operate witli us under tlie United Nations framework for 11111 tuai defensive arrangements but we were ralher opposed to the transfer of. Sovereignity of any Britisli island j in the Pacific. That did not mean we j would not find a way to co-operate with the Americans. Mr. Nash said he "brought back for consideration by the Land and Income Tax Departmeirt and later by the Government, certain tentative proposals on the question of double taxation of comp airies which he had discussed with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Daltbp. The :-basic idea: "was co|tipan-; i^fesi^erned Sitghit |6 p;a^aH;|l^^axes ; blvt should not have ' 'tp pkyr twfce. ' ' ■ On his way home, said Mr. Nash, he liad useful conversations with the Canadian Government on Ihe trans-Pacific .air and shipping services. The journey home involved a total of 12,600 miles which were spanned in 05 (lying hours. A feature of the trip was the nou-stop flight from Ilawaii to Fiji in 14 hours. It is bclicved to be the first nou-stop flight between these two points since Kingsford Smith made tlie same flight in 1934. M'rs. Nash and liis private secrefary, Mr. I). F. Campbell. were among those j who returned willi Alr. Nash.