Australian Prospect
When the Australian import cuts and restrictions were imposed in March, Mr. Menzies said that it might be possible in a reasonably short time to begin to modify them and restore to British exporters a part of that rich Australian market from which they were so suddenly cut off. When he was here a few weeks ago Mr. Menzies repeated this qualified assurance, though without making any precise promise. And now the visible trade deficit of Australia has been wiped out. That is the situation disclosed by the June figures. It is therefore not entirely unreasonable to begin to look for signs of some future lowering of the trade barriers. There are naturally no official statements from the Australian Government yet. But the internal situation in Australia, a situation of large stocks of goods unaccompanied by any wildly active demand and of slightly increased unemployment unaccompanied by any very great danger of a deep depression, is one in which the modifi- cation of import restrictions would be unlikely to lead to a new buying spree or to produce any other violent upset. The boom is over and Australia is no longer a market in which sellers can have their way without working for it. It is true that price competition on the part of importers might have awkward effects on stock valuations and on Australian manufacturers whose costs have been inflated by the race of wages against prices which still goes on there. But that race must stop some day, and this might be the way to stop it. At any rate an experiment in freedom, on however small a scale, would be welcome.
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