NEW ZEALAND'S VIEW ON FOREIGN TRADE

Chronicle (Levin), 7 November 1947, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND'S VIEW ON FOREIGN TRADE

WELLINGTON, Nov. 6. If countries maintaining a complete state monopoly of their foreign trade or carrying out state trading operations, were to he provided for in the cnarter, speciai provision should also be made for countries which maintained complete control of their foreign trade hy other methods. This was the viewpoint advaneed by the New Zealand delegation to the preparatory committee of the United Nations conferenee on trade anr] employment which recently concluded in Geneva its deliberations on the preparation.of the draft charter for the proposed organisation. A report of the delegation was tabled by H011. W. Nash in the House of Representatives toniglit, as a pre liniinary to a discussion scheduled to take place in the House next week be fore Mr. Nash leaves to attend the final conferenee ,at Havana commencing on November 21. The delegation 's report sijdd the New Zealand- proposal was designed to ensure that such countries should expand their foreign trade in eonsonapce witn the purpose of the charter and included certain safeguards against the use of such controls in a restrictive and discriminatory manner, to the prejudice of the interests of other members. The preparatory committee at Geneva, while fully recognising the value of the objectives of the New Zealand proposal in relation to the purpose of the charter, was concerned also to avoid the abuse of such a provisicun in the charter by countries which might no1 pursue thq^ expansionary policy w^hieh New Zealand affirmed. The opinion, therefore, of the pre paratory committee was that, since the maintenance of a quantitative regnlation of trade in the case of economies of the New Zealand type, was elosely related to the fact that such economies carried out domestie polieies of fulj employment and eeonomic development involving the maintenance of a high level of pffeetive demand, inclpding a demand for imports. An article of the charter should be so written as to recognise this situation. The report says the reservation of the New Zealand delegation was reeorded in order that the Government might study the full implications o.f the position." v