THE EMPIRE TRADE COMMISSION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1685, 27 February 1913, Page 6

THE EMPIRE TRADE COMMISSION.

.. 4 — FURTHER DUNEDIN EVIDENCE. SHIPPING SUBSIDIES. ; HOW PREFERENCE OPERATES. ; ' ■ ; j (By Telegraph.—Vtezs Association.) i Dunedin,' February 20. The' Dominions' l<oyal Oouijuisstou con- ; tinued its sittings, to-day. Mr. J. Blair ( Mason, engineer of tlio Otago Harbour Jtfonrd, showed the Commission tho conilttion of tho harbour, as to depth of vilter, and so on, and stated in a general way the'improvements made, and tcld ■ member*, that "wb can take into tho harbour alt vessels at present trading to the Dominion; at tlw Heads thero was a ! depth (if 37 ieet at low water, and vessels drawing 4UI t. can entei', but a t present such 1 vessels cannot proceed up channel; tho i difficulties inside, howeveiy were such -as can bo dealt. With." Mr. Mason said ho could not state exactly what it would cost to deepen tho channel to Port Chalmers to 40ft., but ho estimated it'; at .£50,000. The board had borrowed about .£87,000 for , works, and paid on,an average about 5 per cent. The board's endowments included about GGO acres ill th«i city of Dunetiiii, of which-about 290 acres had been' reclaimed and absorbed in tho city, y and these would bccomo veryvaluable in years to come. The board's incoino would bo more than sufficient to pay all interest charges and provide a sinking fund, with which* to'pay .off loans. In his opinion the providing of a 40ft. channel all the way to Dunedin was prohibitive tn tho ground of expense. The present proposal I was to deepen the upper harbour, mid to deepen Victoria Channel. It would- cost no more to maintain thoso greater'depths, and the present revenue met, without diffi- • culty, all chargei! for interest and'upkeep. Mr. J..W. Heiiton (of tho New Zealand Drug Company) presented a'remit of tho Chamber of Commerce,on tho,question of shipping subsidies, and read a memorandum to the following effect: The question of financo .is an all-important factor in dealing with this question, and it appears to us that each case of subsidy should bo considered on its merits, and dealt With by 1 such an organisation as tho "iimpire Development Department," and tlio cost of any subsidy allocated between tho point's of tho Empire benefiting. It has been brought under Iho notice of tlio chamber that' freight on goods from Hamburg to, New Zealand via London is considerably less than that Horn; London to j New Zealand direct. TJiis-stc.te of things, appearing to us to be inconsistent, and; requiring' investigation, a. specific caso llias been furnished covering articles ofij import whoro freight from Hamburg is 2!)s. lid. per toil, and from London direct 40s. per ton. Tlio reason of tho differcnco ■is not obvious, unless German shippers rely on Stato assistanco to reimburse them. There is, also another aspect on ttyo particular goods referred to. There exists a preferential duty of ten per cent., and tlio difference m favour of, tho Hamburg shipment represents 17i'-per cent', of the duty; it therefore follows that duty is negatived to this extent, and might by further reductions in freight chargos be rendered, in a measure, ineffective for the protection of British ajainst foreign manufacturers.'4 Answering questions, Mr. Henton said ho did not know how sitch a stato of affairs as variation in , freights- could bo remedied, but ho. held tha't, it was tlio duty of the Government' to see that tho matter was attaded'to when considering, preferential tariff. . The net result of tlio present system was that our peoplo paid German subsidies. ; . • The Hon. J. R. Sinclair .asked if it was not a fact that London, was treated as tho port' of origin,for really .and in. this 'way treated as-British goods though , not really so, and they... got the benefit' of tho preferential tariff. _ . . 'j Mr., Henton, replied , tli fit ho did not know that the practice obtained to any great extent. Tlio Opawa brought his firm glass .bottles, eomo fttim England'and some from Hamburg; 'the, freight' on tho English bottles was 30s.j and on tho German bottles 235. Gd., though both lots came by' tho same vessel. ■ Tho- shipper made declaration that tho poods were of British manufacture and this declaration was accepted by the. Customs Department. Goods that wero duty free wero duty free to all alike. Goods_ must have 25 per ccut of British labour in finishing in order to get preference, the other 75 per cent of labour might be German; if 75 p(ir cent, of labour wero British and 25 per cent of .finishing, labour German, he- did not think such goods would get preferential advantage, but so far as ho knew it-was ilot common for go'ods to bo prepared in England and sent to Germany to finish. Mr. James Park (Parle 1 and' Co.) said German goods were as cheap as British, even taking tariff into consideration. Ho , thought on tho wholo our own peoplo wero retaining tlio balance of trade, but tliero was always a demand in some lines for cheapness. His id?a was that British ships kept freights low for, Gorman. goods so that it would- not ba worth,whilo of the Norddeutseher line to send vessels direct to New Zealand,and so avoid German opposition in shipping; facilities to ship German manufactures in British bottoms' wero given' to German manufacturers, thus avoiding German competition in New Zealand waters. Mr. Mark Cohen, editor of the "Evening Star." gavo evidence''strongly in support of the "All Rod cable" allowing code messages in all Sections 1 of cablo "tele.graphy, and an nll-ronnd reduction of rates. Replying to Sir Rider Haggard Xfr. Cohen said ' that British people had no cable across tlio Atlantic. ■ Nothing had been done in response to tlio representa- ' tions of the Imperial Press Conference on , tho subjept. It was a. step in tho right direction that ' the- British Government had decided to retain the right to control | rates in respect to futivre 'landing agreements. -The Atlantic cable owners got sd. . a word for 3(100 miles and thp other 10,000 ' miles cost ojily 4d. . • . ■ Tho. commission Will eifc again tomorrow. ...