FOR AND AGAINST

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 56, 3 September 1926, Page 9

FOR AND AGAINST

N.Z. BODY-BUILDING CAN IT MEET QUARTER OF DEMAND? ONE ASPECT OF THE NEW DUTIES. Tho case for and the case against the Government's higher protection of New Zealand motor body builders is given below. Both statements are compiled by responsible men. While Mr. Cousins questions the ability of New Zealand motor body builders to supply the goods, Mr. Harvie affirms that the local industry can provide one-quarter of tho needed bodies, instead of -3 per cent, as now. "The fullest investigations (states Mr. E. C. Harvie, chairman of the Tariff Committee of the New Zealand Motor Body Builders' Federation) were made by the officers of the Industries and Commerce Department, who visited the largest motor body building factories and obtained information which proved the industry was in a languishing condition. The motor traders and the motor body builders were given the opportunity of meeting and quoting prices of locally built bodies, and comparisons were made with the prices of imported bodies. The Motor Body Builders' Federation and individual builders have demonstrated tho fact that motor bodies equal, if not superior, to the majority' of those imported can be made in the Dominion, and they have exhibited | motor bodies at all motor shows and at Wembley Exhibition. The industry has for long been controlled by a section of the community, and although some motor traders have had bodies built in New Zealand, the conditions of doing satisfactory business were made impossible owing chiefly to the fact that orders would be placed for a number of bodies in order to obtain the very lowest prices, while the delivery of chassis would oe held up to' suit the convenience of motor traders. "The all-steel body bogy is put forward to prove that bodies that are required cannot be built in the Dominion. All steel bodies are made by three or four makers to suit mass production purposes, and any advantages that are claimed for them have not been proved. In Australia 72,000 bodies were built last year, and no allsteel bodies were called for. If all-steel bodies come into general favour, they can be built in the Dominion, and the estimate given by motor traders for the necessary plant is excessive. Mechanical improvements have made it possible for the allsteel body to be made economically for either large or medium production schedules. These bodies are certainly not fireproof as claimed by Motor Traders, as they are upholstered in the usual inflammable materials. For the past twenty years motor bodies have been built by New Zealand motor body builders with Bteel panels, and their factories are equipped with special machinery for shaping and beating ■ panels and mudguards. The all-steel body is composed of units of framing; vertical, horizontal, and cross members, to which these panels are fitted. The local factories are also equipped with spot welding plants for welding together the various steel units. • "The amended duties-will have the effect of raising the proportion of locally built motor bodies, now assessed by the motor traders at 600 for last year, which is approximately only 3 per cent, of the cars imported, to 25 per cent. More capital will be employed and this industry will become one of the most important of our secondary industries. In Australia over 10,000 people are directly interested in the activates of one motor body factory. In the course of a statement on the new duties, Mr. J. F.-Cousins (secretary of the New Zealand Motor Trade, Incorporat-. Ed) deals with the local body building aspect, and says that the protecting of this local industry would be approved by the motor trade "if it was considered 'possible to manufacture motor bodies in New Zealand at prices fairly competitive with the imported article and without the vexatious delays and complications which appear :to be inevitable. The local manufacturer cannot hope to compete with cars produced by mass production methods; and by the older methods as _ still practised in England the local price is so Far in excess of the imported article that it cannot be hoped-to reconcile them by the imposition of duties which might fairly be termed reasonable. . The following examples are quoted-and the figures given can be substantiated: — "The Ford car, for instance, is not adversely affected by the tariff. Over 5000 came into. New Zealand last year, equal to about 30 per cent, of the total importation of passenger cars. The landed cost of the imported body under the new tariff is more than 100 per cent, less than for bodies produced locally if an order was given for the whole 5000. "The Chevrolet importations last year ran to about 2000, and the remarks about the bodies of the Ford cars would apply in like manner to the Chevrolet. "With regard to the medium priced American car.selling round about £300 on the markej. the landed price of the imported body of this car is £59. The price paid for similar bodies to New Zealand body-makers is £110. If they secured an order for the whole of such cars imported into New Zealand the coach--builders' claim that they could do this body for about £70. The rate o£ duty on the value of the body of this type of car under the old tariff was 112 per cent. Under the new tariff it will be increased to 165 per cent., and yet the local bodymakers with this tremendous protection cannot get near to the cost of the imported body. , "Taking a medium-priced^ English car popular on this market, selling in the vicinity of £400, the landed cost of the imported body of this car under the n#.v tariff proposals is £67 10s. The best price we have been able to get from the local body-builders is £170, but they claim that if they could secure the whole of the order for these bodies the price could be reduced to £105. _ ' "The number of cars imported into New Zealand, of which theße various instances are typical, would account for 17,000 out of 18,800 cars imported last year, so that the local coach-builder has no chance of securing this work even under the proposed increased duties."