CUSTOMS TARIFF

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 97, 21 October 1926, Page 10

CUSTOMS TARIFF

QUESTION OF INCREASES.

Speaking on the question of high, protective Customs duties- the president of the New Zealand Employers' Federation (the Hon. T. Shailer Weston) remarked at the annual meeting of the federation to-day: "As regards the question of alterations in our Customs tariff, I adhere to the views expressed at Christchurch recently. They were my own personal opinions. In speaking as I did, I was anxious that investors in secondary industries should not adopt an expedient which in my opinion is certain to increase the coßt of living and, more particularly, will not in the long run be of any lasting benefit to the industries themselves. Both in the United States and in Australia increases in tariff have up till now always been followed at regular intervals by. demands for more. The reason for this is the higher cost of production, due to the increase in money wages, wnich always follows on higher protective duties. Since speaking at Ghristchurch,' I find that the Governor o£ the Reserve Bank of South Africa, has given a similar note of warning to the South African public, and the last few days the cables tell us that manufacturers of five different lines in South Africa have been staggered by the increases in money wages just granted to their employees. These increases followed upon tariff increases upon articles manufactured by them. This is a good practical illustration of one of the main arguments^ as to the futility of higher protective duties, even to the industries they are designed to help."