ECONOMY ADVOCATED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 250, 19 September 1940, Page 11

ECONOMY ADVOCATED.

CONSERVING EXCHANGE. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Sept. 18. “The more tbo people of New Zealand deny themselves the use of petrol the greater their contribution to tho common war effort,” said the High Commissioner for the United Kingdom, Sir Harry Batterbee, at the New Zealand Motor Trado Federation dinner to-night in explaining that the purchase of petrol in the Netherlands East- Indies often involves ail inroad on dollar exchange.

“I recognise, we all recognise, how important petrol is to trade and industry, and indeed to our life'in general, to-day, and how hampering any restriction on its use must necessarily be,” said Sir Harry Batterbee. “But, on the other hand, this is war time, and there is no need for me to emphasise the, importance of conserving foreign exchange, and especially dollars, when every dollar available is required to buy aeroplanes, guns and munitions of all lcinds for the defence of those hard-beset people of Great Britain—and, of course, the defence of Great Britain means the defence of Now Zealand. '“But I often hear the question asked : Can we not avoid the use of foreign exchange and obviate the need for such strict economy by buying from the Dutch Bast Indies? I think that thero is some misconception about this. Because the Dutch are our gallant Allies in the war, people have thought that the Dutch currency is for practical purposes the same as sterling. This is not so. We have, it is true, an agreement with the Dutch which fixes the rate of exchange, but tlie Netherlands East Indies cannot be regarded for purposes of exchange as part of the sterling area, and consequently any purchaso in the Netherlands East Indies gives rise to claims on our foreign exchange resources. In particular, the purchase of petrol in the Netherlands East Indies may involve, and indeed often does involve, an inroad on dollar exchange. “So it all really comes to the same thing in the end: You cannot buy petrol without the danger of an inroad on dollar exchange. Such being the case, every dollar unnecessarily spent on petrol is a dollar less available for the purchaso of essential war material. The co-operation which is being given by New Zealand in the linfihation of petrol imports is most warmly welcomed in the United Kingdom, and an expression of tho United Kingdom Government’s appreciation has been conveyed to tho Dominion Government.”