IMPORT REGULATION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 November 1939, Page 5

IMPORT REGULATION

MINISTER DEFENDS POLICY PROCESS OF SELECTION. FACTOR OF PURCHASING POWER. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. The Government's import selection policy and the procedure adopted in granting import licences was discussed by the Minister of Customs, Mr Nash, in a broadcast address from his office in Parliament Buildings last night. Mr Nash said he knew that some importers had been hit. hard by the restrictions, and he regretted that that had been so. "Granted that New Zealand was short of sterling funds, the question was: what was the best way of meeting this position in the interests of New Zealand." said Mr Nash. "We had a certain amount of interest to pay on our debts, a certain amount of capital to be repaid from Government and local body debts. These had to be paid—there was never any question they they would not be. There was a certain amount left over for imports. That means that no matter what system had been devised, it would have been impossible to pay for any more imports than had been paid for this year. "But in the main people in New Zealand were in employment; they were getting more reasonable wage's; their spending power was increased. They still wanted the same amount of goocis, the same purchases in the shops, and so the shops demanded of wholesalers and manufacturers the same amount of goods. This means that manufacturers and importers were demanding the same amount of raw material and finished goods. DEMAND AND SUPPLY. "Yet here wore we in a position where we had not sufficient overseas money to pay for the goods which this demand would need. The advice given by’ some sections of the community was that the Government should cut down public works, cut expenditure, retrench on social services and generally repeat the procedure adopted in past years. This means that these people were advising that thousands of men should be put out of work, that their families should suffer, that those who need social security should do with less, and that generally the poor-er-pai'd section of the community should bear the burden of what is a national problem, namely, the cutting down of imports. The Government refused emphatically to adopt this course. Accordingly it worked out a system of keeping imports within our capacity to pay for them, but which was not based on cutting wages or retrenching on public works. This procedure has been called the import selection policy. “The Government decided that if imports were to be cut. then it would choose which ones: were to come into New Zealand: it would choose the more essential ones instead of cutting everything by some fraction, whether it was an important or an unimportant commodity. The Government decided that some things would be allowed in unrestricted. whi,le other things not so important would be cut down more. LOCAL MANUFACTURING. The import selection policy, said the Minister, was also used to expand local manufacturing. That was a much more rational and sensible method of assisting local industry than by putting high duties on imported goods as was done in many other countries. One further aspect of the import selection policy was very important, and that was in selecting which imports were to come in, the Government decided that English manufacturers should be given Iho best treatment. "We are purchasing from England as much as we have money to psy for, and we are buying a bigger proportion of our needs in England under this import selection policy." said Mr Nash. "This year the Government is spending much more money on defence equipment and some millions of pounds had to be set aside to buy these goods. This means that we can purchase less of other goods. Summed up. the import selection policy enables New Zealand to keep its people in employment, it enables us to build secondary industries rationally, it enables us to give more trade to England, and it enables up to make ample provision for the payment of interest on our debt." l\lr Nash intimated that arrangements had been made to ensure that all the tea required in the next nine months would be made available. —■“ 1 ji