BRITISH EXPORTS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20125, 20 December 1939, Page 10

BRITISH EXPORTS

LICENSING POSITION

OFFICIAL MEMORANDUM

MAiNTENANCE OF TRADE

The policy of the British Government to maintain the United Kingdom export trade is described in a memorandum issued by the President of,the Board of Trade and sent to the British Trade Commissioner in New Zealand, Mr. R. Boulter. “It is essential,” states the memorandum, “that exporters should be encouraged to maintain and increase their export trade to the greatest extent consistent with vital war needs, and the Government is anxious to assist exporters in every way. “Some Government direction of the flow of materials for manufacture has inevitably become necessary, but this does not mean that supplies will not be available for the export trade. No general system of permits or priorities in the allocation of materials is in force, and for the great bulk of manufactured goods which form the normal export trade of the United Kingdom supplies for manufacture for export, so far as may be foreseen, safely be relied upon for a period of the next three months at least.

Facilitating Operations

“Many materials are not subject to Government control at all. In controlled materials there should in most cases be no difficulty in obtaining the supplies for’maanufacture for export, and it should only be in exceptional cases that there is insufficient for export needs. “The Board of Trade,” continues the memorandum, “is opening discussions with representatives of major exporting industries with a view to facilitating their operations and in particular their purchases of raw materials. Meanwhile the Minister of Supply has issued instructions to controllers and their staffs to make every effort to allocate supplies where it appears to them that the controlled materials are for the manufacture of goods for export, especially where those exports are to be in the form of highly-finished goods in which the cost of the raw materials forms a comparatively small! part of the value of the goods.” Existing and future contracts for capital goods which take a considerable period to fulfil are to receive special consideration with a view to arrangements being made for the supply of materials and the issue of export licenses, if and when required. The issue of licenses for goods subject to export licenses has also been greatly accelerated, while the issue of general licenses has been increased and these will be granted wherever practicable. “In some cases,” concludes the memorandum, “applications have been received for licenses to export to neutral countries adjacent to Germany quantities of raw materials and semimanufactured goods greatly in excess of the normal flow of trade, and it may, of course, be necessary to limit such exports pending the signature of satisfactory war trade agreements by the countries in question.”