TRADE RELATIONS WITH AUSTRALIA

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 53, 26 November 1920, Page 9

TRADE RELATIONS WITH AUSTRALIA

RECIPROCITY IN CUSTOMS TARIFF

AN INTERESTING SPEECH Mr.-J..T. Martin (Wellington) moved' the.following remit at the' Chambers of Gomnierc'o,Conference yesterday morning: —"That, the Government he urged to enter into negotiations with the Commonwealthy authorities with the''object of arranging- a ireciproca.l Customs . tariff between. New Zealand and Australia. . Mr. Martin said'that New Zealand was not on a satisfactory footing with Tepard to tho Australian Customs tariff, . though in 1918. this country imported from Australia goods to the value ■ of • , j£5,133,349, nnd exported to Australia ? goods to the value of £1,761,000. . New Jlenland 1 had made a serious misihke, and one difficult-to remedy, when last year -it had permitted -Australia ,to im- ■ pose the tariff which- oamo intoopern- , tion on March 25 of this year, and had 'made no remonstrances against the [ scale. "In fjhat tariff there were thrcfi divisions: first, the British- preferential tariff; second, the intermediate tariff. which included. New Zealand and other ' British dependencies; and, third, the ' general'tariff., which applied to all other ■ countries.' - The commission pot- up to , fix the tariff'hnd sat for several months, •• biitl the Government of this country had taken no notice of tho ,fact, and had failed to take advantage of the opoor-hmitt-it had- of negotiating with Australia. ' Oats and Wheat, • ' "At one. stage this season," said Mr. Martin, "wo could easily have exported 100.000 sacks of Nevr Zealand . oats to Australia at ,a time wbe'n Australia badly needed the oats, and'when our prices were relatively• high, • and we might have secured for them ss. Gd. per bushel. But the duty of ls.Od. per cental, i.e., 7 l-sd. Ser. bushel, preyen&d us. doing this, fence we were obliged .to find outlets for'6ur:surplus elsewhere',; and gradually prices. .fell till to-day theif-"value is'4s. per bushel, f.o.b.s.i. : : Were it -hot for the operation of this''bigh Australian tariff New Zealand would' have mado an 'increased revenue, of at least ,£30,000. This, sort of.ilhing may happen again. Our duty against Australian oats is only . Si.. .ipe'r '-cental—exactly■ half;'theirs—and nearly every'year'.we permit thousands of .sacks', of Australian feed Algerian ; oats to bo imported into this 1 country on the low ..import duty.. '. I contend that if Australia wants our trade in ber seed oati then she should reduce her import!.duty against our oats,' which aro of a veiy' much higher grade than ' the Australian product, and preferred largely for milling; purposes in' New South Wales. We should say to' Australia: 'If ,you , insist.' on Is, ; 6a..' per' cental > against ..our .oats, then we insist-on' Is. 6tl. ner cental against, yours.': •' "Australia" has a splendid market in this country for her wheat,' against .Which we -have an import duty of !)d. per : cental, liable'to be'.'temporarily lifted when our wheat production is considerably' below our requirements, ' Against - our wheat . into Australia there is an embargo of Is. 6d. per cental—again just double our Tates. I ask, is this fair? Against our manufactured Oatmeal Australia imposes a duty.'of '£i'lSs. Bd. per ton, which : ej> fectively prohibits its Oa.jneal manufacture is a languishing industry in this country, but were we able to export to Australia' wo could' increase our production and thereby appreciably assist our, oat growers. ' • ' The Potato. Embargo. ' "Had we taken measures at tho right time, when tho National Government was in power, and discussed with the Austin--lian Government the' potato -position before they : imposed such severe restrictions' on our produce, we might have saved this country a loss of . through destruction consequent on nomarket being foUnd for our supplies ot 40.000 tons of South Island poiatoes. While Australia was short of potatoes and the market at- JBI7- per'.ton iii Sydliey, here we had a heavy surplus—the heaviest for, many years. Australia's objection, was to the presence of powdery scab,' a disease which Australia stated was not present in that country and about which they had considerable 'doubt. I admit'that the Prime Minister nnd Mr. Nosworthy (Minister of Agriculture), and'very specially Dr. Beakea, did everything that could-be humaniy expected of them to induce the Australian Government to-lift the embargo, and; sent strong' cablegrams and special, representations to bring that about, but were not successful.' The time to-make the-pro-, testations was before the Testrictions.wero imposed by the Australian Government. That brings me to the point that.we have sever reeriouslv endeavoured. since 1008 to strengthen our commercial rein-, .tions with-Australia.' , . - Our Strong Position. we are in a position to-day to tako'V|i.> strong stand nguinat tho. Australian tariff, particularly, as she.,« making,' every effort'ito increase the out: puUof her industries and. to establish- . new ones under a 'strong protective. tariff. She needs our markets for her. manufactured goods, of which-in 191S she, sold . us' .£1,880,220.w0rth. We sit in the.box seat as buyers, and should say to her if eho Wants our trade she uiuerc place us on a-'more favourable basis with, her - .Customs tariff. :We need a strong trade " commissioner and stall in. Australia to protect our interests. A .competent man could 's(fve this country thousands of pounds sterling per annum. Our loss last year in revenue in oats and potatoes alone meant" JM30,000. : 1o iis." .. .. Mr. \V. M. Tyers.'(Christchuich).mov.-. Ed the following amendment to the motion:—"That the following words be added: Provided'thai no arrangement should be made which, would ..discriminate, .against'the manufacturers of Jhe United Kingdom'." Mr. Martin accepted tho amendment.. . i .... ,■■■■. ... .y . The'motion as amended-was. carried. Mr.. S. Orchard (Canterbury) moved: "That, in accordance with -the- representations of the' Sydney Chamber of .Commerce; Australian wines should bo -admitted into 'New Zealand as regards Customs duty on itcrms as.-favourable as ' those.'-accorded to- any .othei, .country;' provided that Now Zealand-.exports to. Australia should-be admitted into Australia ou equally favourable tewns as similar goods imported from Australia into New Zealand." •_ Tho remit' was carried. : •