Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 1939. THE IMPORTERS’ CONFERENCE.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 January 1939, Page 6

Wairarapa Times-Age MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 1939. THE IMPORTERS’ CONFERENCE.

Wn ILE the national conference of importers which concluded at Wellington last Thursday condemned “as impracticable, unnecessary, and unjust the Import Control Regulations, 1938,” it put forward proposals which, on cursory examination, seem io hold valuable possibilities as a basis of possible agreement with the Government.

As was reported in our news columns, the conference approved'an alternative procedure submitted by the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce. The Canterbury proposals take account of the Government’s declared objectives—the conservation of sterling, protection of local manufactures and alterations in trade—and as against the procedure meantime in force it is suggested, amongst other things, that the Government should allot to each importer a fixed amount of sterling which he could use during a period of twelve months. Other proposals relate to the listing of goods to be prohibited entry or restricted and it is suggested also that an import tribunal consisting of men skilled in trade and commerce should be associated with Government officials to hear and decide appeals.

While they do not exclude the possibility, or probability, of extended and wide-ranging controversy, these proposals appear to offer a means of making an orderly and methodical approach to the establishment of working principles in dealing with the regulation of trade, and to a simplification and elucidation of the procedure now apparently in force of attempting to deal in detail with an overwhelming mass of individual applications. On the face of it, some simplification of working procedure must be evolved and the Canterbury proposals approved by the national conference seem to be well worth considering from that standpoint, if only as a basis or initial draft io be improved upon.

The Canterbury proposals are called an alternative, but, as the chairman of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce (Mi- W. S. Mac Gibbon) has pointed out, they represent

a reasonable modification of the present regulations which would achieve the objects of the regulations and yet allow business to operate with less delay and confusion and enable the Government to take advantage of the foresight and judgment of the business community instead of discarding these for the rigid and theoretical drafting of trade into academically predetermined channels.

There is evidently no .hope of establishing complete agreement between the Government and the business people concernd as to the form the regulations should take, but it is definitely in the interests of both these parties, and in the interests of the Dominion, that the nearest approach to agreement that is practicable should be made. The proposals approved by the importers’ conference thus have the strongest possible claims io immediate consideration bv the Government.

Disorganisation and serious trading delays evidently are leading characteristics of the existing state of affairs. Something of the kind no doubt was inevitable in dealing with a situation which had to be dealt with in some fashion. What ought to be considered, however, is that it is as much in the interests of the general community as in that of importers and other business people that trading confusion, disorganisation and delays should be cleared up as soon as possible. It will be extremely disappointing if the proposals put forward by the conference do not lead at once to practical discussions between trading representatives and the Finance Minister and his advisers, directed to the achievement of the speediest possible approach to whatever measure of working understanding and agreement is attainable.