THE DUTY ON BICYCLES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2175, 3 September 1907, Page 1

THE DUTY ON BICYCLES.

[Tj the 'Editor.] Sir,—On behalf of the many nidustrial members of tlio cycle trade throughout Now Zealand who liayo petitioned the Government to increase the duty on all cycles imported into . tlid Dominion to £2 each per complote cycle, I must protest against the tone of your loading article on this matter of Customs duty. Only for the fact that your rejnarks are not likely to carry much weight ill official circles, even could they reach headquarters in time to enter into the discussion of the matter now being brought before the members of the House, the statements made in your article would he a soribus hindrance to' tlio establishment of the cycle industry and thus deprive the cycle mechanic of the just rights to which ho is entitled under a policy of Protection which the Minister of Customs is endeavoring to carry through. ' Your statement that the cycle building industry is one unlikely to reach large dimensions Under a protective tariff is only your opinion; under the present tariff tlio bottom lias long since been knocked out of the cycle building industry,, apd with the help of such writers as yourself is likely to remain in these deplorable conditions.

The Wellington Industrial Association, after appointing a special committee to enquire into the state of the cycle building industry, unanimously decided that the industry must be classed as a languishing one, and worthy the consideration of the present. .Government, and supported the suggestion that the duty on all cycles—good and bad, expensive and cheap—be £2 each on all alike. Your statement, that even were tlio duty increased to £4 • per machine, the public would still insist' on obtaining the English machine, might apply to some high positioned people who must be “quite English you know,” but as practically four-fifths of the cycles imported to-day are either made of B.S.A. or pattern fittings, it is only you, possibly, who hold the opinion that buyers would still insist on having a cycle assembled by an English mechanic in preference to one put together by a New Zealander. Again your statement that a duty of £2 would mean an increase of cost to the public to that extent is misleading. The high grade cycles, such as Rovers, Raleighs and Triumphs, already bear a duty of 20 per cent, ad valorem, and this practically amounts to £2 each per cycle—so no increase in the selling price of the machines, which you state the public will insist on having, will be necessary.

The cycle that will be affected will he the cheaply assembled and finished B.S.A. and pattern cycles, put together by sweated garret labor in England, and with which our labor conditions in this country can never hope to compete; and better the industry languish than that our mechanics be asked to work under such terrible conditions. With a duty of £2 on these low priced machines it would not pay to import such, and instead our cycle assembling industry in New Zealand would be stimulated into activity, employing thousands of youths and men turning out a reliable and sound machine under conditions much better for the mechanic than those lie is now. asked to compete with in England. Despite-this duty it would not be necessary to charge the public a penny more for a pattern' or B.S.A. cycle than they are charged at present 1 . These cycles would certainly cost the retailer possibly a little extra to manufacture or purchase] but the amount would come out Of his present margin of profit, and the extra business that would

pass through tlio dealers’ hands, in view of the stoppage of importing cycles by private syndicates, etc., would make up for any small loss in this direction.

As a representative of a wholesale cycle house, I would undertake that should a duty of £2 each per cycle be granted, that no advance of more than 10s per cycle will be charged to the trade on either B.S.A. or pattern cycles, and am prepared to state that no advance whatever will be made to the general public. In place of under 1000 mechanics employed in cycle shops to-day in New Zealand it would be possible, inside of two years, to find at least 3000 employed, provided the protection necessary is afforded to the industry. the magnitude of which is little dreamt of by the general mass of the people, and evidently by your leading article it might be an enlightenment to even your editor to look a little closer into the possibilities of the cycle building industry in New Zealand tinder a moderate protective tariff. Apologising for the longth of these remarks.—l am, yours very truly, A. white-parsons. Representing the Cycle and Motor Supplies, Ltd., Wellington.