Attack Made On Havana Charter

Chronicle (Levin), 10 August 1949, Page 5

Attack Made On Havana Charter

(N.Z.P.A.-

— Reuter. Copyright)

Received W.nsday, i p.m. LOXDOX", August 9. In an article in tlie American maga-' zine Economic Review, Rir Hubert Henderson, professor of political eoonomy at Oxford, st''onglv attacks tlie [lavana Cliarter on world trade approved last year by 58 nations including Xew Zealand. Unless the interliational balance of payments can be correeted, the Charter mav do more liarm than good, says Professor Henderson. "Tt is scareely an exaggeration to say that the reduetion of tariff preferences within the British Commonwealth is the pnlv eonsequence of the Charter which is definite and certain," he said. "I appreciate the strength of the Anieriean objections to arrangements made at the Ottawa Conference in 1933. Xonetheless, I find it diffieult to understand what useful purpose can 'be served by a reduetion of Imperial preference in the altered circumstanees of the present day. Its maintenance and, where desirable, its extension, could do no real injury to the American export trade. "The Commonwealth will always be ready and anxious to import from the United Rtates to the full extent of the dollars it can earn, both directly and indireetly. On the other hand, the reduetion and restriction of these preferences must tend in some degree to make it more diffieult to restore and maintain equilibrium in the balance of paj^ments between the sterling and dollar arcas. Esca]ie clauses and qualifications tempt eountries to rely upon quotas if they cannot use tariffs. I can see no eseape from the dilemma that those provisions . of the Charter which are directed against quantitative restrictions, must either be treated as a dead letterTor thev will arouse resentment so strong as gravelv to prejudiee the idea of international arrangements. ' '