AGAINST PROTECTION

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 58, 6 September 1926, Page 11

AGAINST PROTECTION

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—There is little doubt that at the present time there is a strong movement to incerase the tariff on many goods which are necessary or desirable to the New Zealand public. Within the last. few weeks an attempt has been made to increase duties on boots and shoes and also on motor bodies, although there is already a heavy duty on these imports. Anyone who has any doubt of the undesirableness of heavy protective duties would have been convinced if they had heard a debate which took place in tho Farmers' Institute last week, when a very clear and convincing paper on tho economic aspect of protection was delivered by Mr. Williams, of the New Zealand University. It is impossible in this short letter to repeat any of the arguments used so convincingly by this speaker. This letter has a different object. It is to point out the dangers of indifference to the subject. Australia has become a strong protectionist country, and it-is only now when too late that it is being realised that this is not in the best interests of that country. Thousands of pounds have been spent in propaganda to foist duty after dutjr on tho unfortunate

Australian public, and hardly a murmur came from those whose intorest it was to oppose such a policy. The reason for this is fairly obvious. The duty is increased on, say, hosiery. The Australian public pay an extra 6d a pair without a murmur. They do not trouble to find out the cause of the increase and in any case will always allow themselves to be filched for 6d as they do not realise that with every other purchase they pay a tribute to the great god of the local manufacturer —protection. The manufacturer, of hosiery, however, knows that this small increase represents thousands in the pocket so he has no hesitation in spending a thousand or two in propaganda. The result is that in every newspaper, tramear, and hoarding one sees the slogan "Buy Australian-made Goods." However excellent "this slogan may be, if the articles referred to were manufactured in Australia without the artificial aid of protection, it now hides a dangerous purpose. Having established this slogan firmly in the public mind the manufacturer meets no difficulty in obtaining big tariffs on boots, motor-bodies, clothing, hats, drapery, hardware, chemicals, tools, foodstuffs, farming implements, and even wire and netting to keep down the rabbits. In fact he imposes duty on every article the public can reasonably wish to buy. The loss of revenue from the Customs Department is perhaps the least of the evils that has followed the almost unsurmountable tariff wall in Australia. A reasonable tariff brings revenue, a large one stops it. To retrieve the position now is impossible for the Australians, but if New Zealand takes warning she need never find herself so disadvantageous^ placed. Resistance, however, appears to be like the resistance of a divided command to the organised attack of the protectionist. That there is undoubt-, edly a movement .to increase the NewZealand tariff duties is obvious. I even suspect that the industrial exhibition held so recently in Wellington is a phase in the movement. Soon not only importers of boots1 and motor-bod-ies will be called upon to resist increased duties but the importers of every useful commodity. Is it not desirable then, that the importers and indenters of every article on which the tariff is likely to be increased, and above all, the general public who eventually have to pay if it is increased, should all get together and form a united resistance to the advance of protection, in this country? It is for the leading men of Wellington who will find their mercantile business seriously affected by increased protection to join together and call a meeting with the object of forming a society to educate the public to the dangers of the present protectionist movement. If they do not organise now they will find as York street, Sydney, has done, that a large part of their business has gone, without resistance and beyond recall. —I am, etc., G. H. WINDER.