INFERIOR OR ELSE MORE COSTLY

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 148, 18 March 1939, Page 8 (Supplement)

INFERIOR OR ELSE MORE COSTLY

Dominion-Made Tyres MOTORIST’S OPINION OF NEW INDUSTRY The fear that the Government’s proposal to grant a licence for the manufacture of motor tyres in New Zealand would result in motorists being compelled to buy an article greatly inferior or else much more expensive was expressed at the half-yearly meeting of the North Island Motor Union in Wellington. Mr. E. Palliser (Wellington) said that the time in which objections could be lodged bad almost expired and it might lie an appropriate time for the union to voice its opinion. “We may rightly say that it would be fatal to grant a monopoly to any one concern, said Mr. Palliser.

The chairman, Mr. J. H. Edmund son, Hawke’s Bay: Or to exclude imported lines. Mr. Palliser: The danger we saw ts a monopoly to the exclusion of over seas manufacturers who have served us so well in the past.

•A member: Wouldn’t you. allow the manufacture of tyres in New Zealand.' Mr. Palliser: Yes, but there should be no monopoly. Mr. N. F. Little (Taranaki) said that what might not at first be a monopoly could easily develop into one. He referred to the dhnger of pricefixing, and said he failed to see how even one factory in New Zealand could manufacture tyres at an economic price. There was a danger with a protected secondary industry that the public would be compelled to buy an inferior article or a much more costly one.

Mr. E. A. Batt (Wellington) said the market was ridiculously small even for one manufacturer, and there were a lot of other factors' to be, considered by the Government before a licence would be issued. It was decided to inform the authorities that in the opinion of the union no licence should be granted for the sole manufacture of tyres in New Zealand by any one or more manufacturers, which would mean the restriction of tyre imports.