Customs Minister to Visit Canada

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 342, 1 May 1928, Page 1

Customs Minister to Visit Canada

TRADE AGREEMENT SOUGHT AUSTRALIA’S ATTITUDE (Special to THE SUN) CAMBRIDGE, Monday. It is the intention of the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, to visit Canada next year to negotiate with the Government of that Dominion for reciprocal trade arrangements, which he hopes will place New Zealand in a position independent of her existing tariff treaty with Australia. The Minister had intended to go last year, but the dates of the sessions of the respective Parliaments did not -allow of this. The proposed visit to Canada of the Minister is partly the outcome of the attitude which has been adopted toward New Zealand by Australia in reI spect to the reception of our dairy produce there. As a result of his negotiations with the Commonwealth, the Minister said, while speaking at Cambridge this evening, that Australia had granted this Dominion entry of our chief exports at rates less than the British preferential rates, and prepared figures showed the immense benefit ot this concession after the treaty began to operate in 1922. The contrast was shown by figures which proved that in 1921 our adverse trade balance with Australia was £3,950,000, and in the financial year just closed it had been reduced to a quarter of a million. The Minister confessed that his negotiations with Mr. Pratten ou his visit to New Zealand were not productive of immediate results, the Commonwealth Minister having refused to consider a reduction from the Australian rate of duty on New Zealand butter of sixpence a pound. He had maintained, however, that under the Paterson scheme it was proposed to raise the export subsidy to fourpence, which would moan that the New Zealand exporter to Australia would still merely have to overcome a barrier of twopence a pound. Other questions had been discussed with Mr. Pratten, but no agreement had been reached in the meantime. So far as our relations with Canada were concerned, the same difficulties did not prevail, the sister Dominion having been quite willing to trade ou the basis of friendly relations. Negotiations were being made with other countries for further valuable trade concessions.