A DEADLY INDICTMENT

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 72, 27 March 1933, Page 6

A DEADLY INDICTMENT

~ We do not know what greater moral blow could be struck at high exchange than that dealt it by Mr. William Goodfellow. He declares unreservedly that the New Zealand Government's raising of the exchange is a breach of the Ottawa Agreement —and this condemnation in itself is severe enough. But he, goes farther, and is "forced to1 conclude" that this breach by New Zealand of the Ottawa Agreement is the cause of Britain's suggestion that' that agreement be departed from in the direction of restricting the amount of New Zealand dairy produce sent to Great Britain. The double indictment, coming from a dairy farming leader of Mr. Goodfellow's unique experience and position, is overwhelming. It makes high exchange responsible for the^ utmost damage both moral and material. New Zealand was hustled by farming pressure into a reversal of exchange policy, and now. Mr. Goodfellow says that she not only broke faith but also caused the other party to counter with a proposed restriction that would be more damaging to New Zealand than to the foreigner. This is how high exchange is regarded in the house of its friends. Could its enemies utter anything worse?

Possibly the candour of My. Goodfellow will lead to a turn in the tide. His admission removes a great deal of the arguable ground. Morally, he has killed all argument, !ahd there is no further need to. slay the slain. In the affirmation of breach of faith, he, and the Wellington Chamber of Commerce in its annual report, are found on the same side. From this concurrence may spring a new current of thought based not so much on yesterday as on tomorrow. When the Government —after the change of front to which the Chamber of Commerce report refers—enacted the higher exchange, it did not foresee that such an artificial and agreement-breaking' stimulation of prodyction-for-export would provoke restriction in the market exported to. In short, the Government, when legislating, saw the friends and the enemies of its policy in New Zealand, counted heads, and felt secure; it did not foresee the dissent of the consumer oversea, with further price-fall and threatened loss of the Ottawa position. Therefore, the British restriction proposal is a thirdparly intervention of a grave and unforeseen character. It invites the Government and the high exchangers to pause. Wisdom requires that the chain of events leading up to the 25 per cent, exchange should be reexamined, and 'Mr. Goodfellow has stated the chain of causation with deadly emphasis. Can the farmer now save himself by shedding every drop of brother manufacturer's blood, or will the farmer do belter to check over his own reasoning, not, ,in the light of how he and the' Government saw things yesterday, but in the light in which high exchange and its direct results are presented by Mr. Goodfellow today?