EXCHANGE CONTROL

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20727, 10 February 1939, Page 7

EXCHANGE CONTROL

“WRONG AND UNJUST” CRITICISM BY IMPORTERS ADVERSE EFFECTS CLAIMED (By Telegraph.—Press Association) WELLINGTON, Thursday Reasons why the Import Control Regulations were considered by the recent conference of importers to be impracticable, unnecessary and unjust are stated by the Importers' Nationil Committee in a statement issued today. It is first of all pointed out that the New Zealand Government was the only Government in the British Empire to banish freedom of exchange, and it is contended that the extreme steps taken were more than were necessary to ensure the conservation of sufficient funds in London to meet national debt commitments. If is claimed that sudden and extensive unemployment, for both importers and their employees, will result from the operation of the scheme. , Unsound Financial Policy It is suggested that it is wrong and unjust for one section of the community to be penalised for what should be the concern of all cand that if regulation by the Government is to be conceded the Government should state by what percentage imports must be reduced and let the percentage reduction apply to all importers, irrespective of the classes of goods imported. This would have provided a simple solution. There is the further claim that the import selection policy is a temporary expedient which will serve to smother up the effects of the unsound financial policy the Government has been pursuing, but only for a time. It is stated that restriction of imports can produce an export surplus only if exports are maintained and that the proper sphere of activity for the Government is in removing every obstacle, chiefly of its own creation, that stands in the way of increased primary production. The scheme as a protection to local industries is described as ill-conceived, unscientific and uneconomic. Living Costs Rise It remains to be seen how much overseas capital is likely to he attracted to New Zealand for secondary industries. continues the statement. Factors mentioned are the restricted market, the crushing rales of taxation existing. and the fact that a great amount of capital left New Zealand because reasonable returns were not allowed it. The business of importers is now being run by the Government and its officials, the statement continues, and manufacturers will, in due course, find themselves in the same boat. It is also claimed that the cost of living, spread over innumerable items, is going to rise. Mention is made of the fact that no information has been given as to the extent, if any, by which the Government intends to reduce its own excessive importations, which, it is stated, have played a leading part in the decline of t.he London funds. Finally, it is claimed that the regulations are a breach of the spirit, if not the letters, of the Ottawa agreement, and of agreements with other countries. and the fear is expressed of the possibility of reprisals by countries affected and the restriction of the Dominion’s markets. PACIFIC ISLAND GOODS WELLINGTON, Thursday Pursuant to clause 15 of the Import Control Regulations, the Gazette to-night contains a notice to the effect that goods produced or manufactured in the Cook Islands and the mandated territory of Western Samoa are exempted from the toquirement of a license under the regulations.