The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1939. MOTIVES OF IMPORT CONTROL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 38, 15 February 1939, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 1939. MOTIVES OF IMPORT CONTROL

|T is not suggested that all countries are actuated solely by the desire to meet their overseas creditors when they restrict imports, says The Times Trade and Engineering Supplement in discussing the. New Zealand import control scheme. They may, indeed, have fallen under the lure of self-containment. Why should wc bo dependent on outside sources for goods that we could make ourselves? they ask. The answer is that there is no reason whatever provided that they are prepared to pay the price which will have to be paid by their own people. It is obvious that -if spades arc excluded in the interests of the industry of spade making, and the cost, of producing them m the country is greater than the price at which they can be imported, spade users will be penalised and their standard thereby reduced. If this discrepancy in cost is merely temporary it may be worth while, but that does not alter the fact that the “baby” industry is established at the cost of the community. The same applies to all other articles, so that logically it comes to this, that a young country should consider fiscal policy in the light of expediency. It should first ask itself whether it is prudent, to attempt a comprehensive policy of self-containment or whether it ,-ould be wiser to protect only such industries as are necessary to the State or hold out a prospect of being able to stand alone in fair competition at an early date. We said last month that in considering exports it was relevant to bear in mind the imports received in return. It is equally necessary to bear in mind that restriction of imports may make it difficult to secure payment for exports. The fundamental principle is that commerce must bring benefit to both parties or it will inevitably dwindl-. away. As much is to be feared from those who seek unfair advantage for Themselves as from those who deliberately determine to damage their neighbours’ commerce. Neither policy is justified, nor, indeed, intelligent. The rehabilitation of the world is dependent not on the restriction of commerce, but on its expansion.