THE PRINTING TRADE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2692, 11 February 1916, Page 7

THE PRINTING TRADE

——* PROTECTION WANTED DEPUTATION TO MINISTER OF CUSTOMS 0 S! . si A deputation consisting of Jlr. L, T. Watkins, president of tho New Zealand j J Master Printers' Association, Jlr. T. Jones, president of the Wellington branch of the association, and Air, T. H. lipid, tho' New Zealand organiser, 4 waited upon t'ho'Hon. Arthur 31. Myers, ;j Minister of Customs, yesterday after- u 110011, with a view of renewing the representations which had been made to 8 previous Ministers that greater protec- V tion bo given to tho local ' printing ®' trade. _ * It was pointed out that since they . had last placed their case before the - then Minister of Customs the Austra- 0 lic.ii tariff, which at that time was somewhat similar to the New Zealand tariff, g had increased! considerably,. now being s for British-made goods Bd. per lb., or s 35 per cent., and for foreign-made goods lOd. per lb v or 40 per cent. The New Zealand tariff being 3d. per lb. for Bri- % fish manufactures and 3 3-sd. per lb. for J foreign manufactures, it wns desired 0 that this great difference in the protection of the trade of tho respective conn- v tries be taken note of when the matter 4 again carao up for consideration. b There was a fear also, Jlr. Watkins t stated, in the mintls of printers that 'J paper manufactured in the United States and shipped to Australia flight 1 oventually find its waj' to New Zealand under tho guise of British-made goods, r and that firms who wished) to purchase J only tjie latter article might unknow- , ing'iy have the American article 011 to them. This might he dono to ad-' vantage, owing to the cheap sailing ] freight from U.S.A. to Australia and g the evasion of the 20 per cent, duty im- 1 posed by the New Zealand Customs oh ; paper coming from the United States. 1 Ho suggested that to prevent such a 1 thing happening a declaration of conn- t try of original manufacture be required ' with all consignments of paper from Australia. _ .5 Another point raisedi by Jlr. Watkins j was that there was a shameful waste in j Now Zealand of paper thr.t could he re- . pulped and manufactured at very little < cost. Ho pointed out that there was I going to he a great difficulty in obtain- 1 ing supplies of paper, and urged that j the paper-making industry should bo fostered and thereby provide, employment for many returned': soldiers, as well as ensuro the necessary supplies of that article being available. Jlr. Jones represented that there was every reason to believe that large quan- 1 t-ities of playbills and printed posters ] were brought into New Zealand with- : out the Customs duty thereon heing ! paid, and suggested thai; in order to ■ make sure that this duty was paid. 111 ; future each poster or package of post- ' tors should be marked, "with a stamp "Customs duty paid." ; The Minister, in reply, pointed out that any alteration in the tariff ivould, ; of course, require legislation, and that j when the tariff was next being revised he would be very pleased to go carefully into the representations made. With regard to the importation of printing paper from Australia,' he would see that the Customs Department paid special attention to ensuring that the original country of manufacture was shown in every case. He would also see what could bo done in the way of stamping playbills and theatrical posters, as suggested by the deputation, so as to prevent their being brought into the country without payment of duty. . The matter of fostering the paper-ma-lcin" industry, the Minister stated lie would "have pleasure in bringing under tho notice of the Eight Hon the Minister of Industries and Commerce.