OVERHAUL OF TARIFFS

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 17 June 1933, Page 5

OVERHAUL OF TARIFFS

REDUCTION AND INCREASE. REQUESTS BEFORE COMMISSION. (By Telegraph— Press Association.) WELLINGTON, June 16. -In further evidence to-day before the Tariff Commission, Mr. Harold Ernest Taylor, New ’ Zealand manager of the British General Electric Company, made representations- on behalt or his own and several other firms, tie asked for the removal of the duty of 20 per cent, ad valorem on electric stoves from the United Kingdom. .He contended that owing to the high cost oi packing and freight the local manufacturer was afforded ample protection without duty, that the duty of 20 per cent on stoves from-the United Kingdom. with the corresponding duty on foreign stoves meant- an imposition in money value out. of proportion to the amount expended in the local manufacture of stoves, that as his principals had gone to considerable expense in manufacturing for New Zealand requirements they were entitled to a fair share of the market, ana that the remission of the duty on stoves would enable them to be sold more cheaply and thus stimulate sales.

Replying to Mr. Marider, Mr. Taylor said main competition came not from Canada but from New Zealand manufacturers. The application concerned stoves only. Mr. Mander: You consider the freight the importer has to pay would be adequate natural protection for the local manufacturer. What is the freight per stove ? Mr. Taylor: That depends on the stove. You can reckon within the vicinity of £3. You admit the freight the manufacturer, say in Christchurch, would have to pay on stoves to Auckland is quite an offset against natural protection?— To a certain extent, yes. Mr. Aubrey Schloss, director of J. L. Lennard Ltd., asked that a duty of 2.5 per cent, ad valorem be imposed on glucose from foreign countries in order to protect the British product against dumping. All the materials used in the British product came from within the Empire. Britain could supply all the glucose requred in New Zealand. His firm, he said, had had an assurance from its principals in England that if a duty were imposed on the foreign product the British product would be kept at as low a price as possible_