The Sun 42 Wyndham Street, Auckland, N.Z. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1927. A FRESH TARIFF THAT IS STALE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 157, 23 September 1927, Page 8

The Sun 42 Wyndham Street, Auckland, N.Z. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1927. A FRESH TARIFF THAT IS STALE

A CANNY man from Dunedin told the Prime Minister at Wellington yesterday that the Government’s new tariff was

“rotten.” Such was the view of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Association, as expressed by the president, Mr. J. Sutherland Ross, and such is the opinion of most people who have taken the trouble to study the shortcomings and obliquities of the tariff scale, though their criticism may have been less homely and not so aptly terse. Even in serviceable comment the Scottish folk of Otago are of a thrifty habit. And yet “rotten” was the right word for the occasion. The new tariff has satisfied nobody except the most favoured manufacturers in Great Britain, whose pleasure at increased preference may at least find material expression later in ready investments of their higher profits in New Zealand loans. And, after all, there is something to he said |or a fiscal policy that enhances the credit of a borrowing nation at the main source of financial supply. Still, in times of depression and obdurate unemployment, charity should he most generous at home. Then, it might have been expected to "occur to the conservative minds of the new tariff builders that, if more encouragement were given to their own people to earn more money, they would have more surplus cash available for the promotion of greater industrial development within New Zealand and even for lending it to the State for profitable national enterprises. It is of special interest to note that the deputation of local manufacturers to the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates synchronised with the release of the Tariff Commission’s report for publication. This document, instead of weakening the protests of the manufacturers against the tariff actually strengthened them by confirming the principle of the complainants’ argument. The commission admits in the preamble of its report, which is based on confidential evidence, that the tariff history of the Dominion shows clearly that the established policy is one of moderate protection. Quite so, but the commission took infinite care to pass on to the Legislature—a feckless body at its best—the responsibility for any extension of this policy of moderation. Unfortunately, the Legislature made no use of its power to extend the measure of protection to local industries, but accepted holus-bolus the Ministerial proposals which, of course, were shaped by the departmental commission. It is to be regretted that Parliament did not borrow the motto suggested recently' to British business men by the Prince of Wales—“ Adopt, adapt, and improve.” Since it has been clearly, if, perhaps, unkindly shown by the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Association that the new tariff is “rotten,” the next best thing to do is to cut the “rottenness” out of it. This can he done in a practicable way by the establishment of a representative and an efficient Tariff Board with power to make adjustments when and where experience proves the necessity of alterations. Unemployment will not be dispersed until the secondary industries have been developed to a point at which they can absorb the surplus population. The Government has failed in its duty to promote the only practicable way of solving the problem of unemployment and industrial distress.

HOODING THE VULTURES

IF all Labour leaders were as sound and as outspoken as Mr. W. McCormack, the Premier of Queensland, the vultures of Communism would soon be hooded, and, given the cold shoulder by the working class, be unable to work the sinister mischief which has everywhere marked their presence. It is Mr. McCormack who has applied the term “vultures” to these emissaries of evil; and it well fits them, for they prey mercilessly on the helpless, who, as regards the purpose of Communism, are the credulous and ignorant. The vultures sit with gaping beaks, waiting for any chance dispute, so that they may tear the peace and disrupt content, hoping to bring about a condition of anarchy that will gorge them with the carrion they crave. Mr. McCormack, referring to the recent strike in Queensland, plainly warns the workers of the menace in their midst. Insidious attempts had been made by some sections of the community, he said, to take control of the dispute, not for the purpose of fighting an industrial battle for the workers, but to create disruption and discord throughout the Commonwealth and the whole of the Empire. It was obvious, added the Premier, that this propaganda was being carried on not only in the Commonwealth, but in other British Dominions and even in Britain itself, and it behoved everybody who believed in constitutionalism and evolutionary principles to be aware of the situation. Further, Mr. McCormack declared that Communism was insidiously worming its way into the Labour organisation, to use it for a purpose for which it was never created; and he drew attention to the fact that fifty or sixty men had been brought from Sydney to Brisbane to address meetings and preach revolution in the Queensland metropolis—vultures ready to take advantage of the dislocation caused by the strike, and who threatened to destroy the Labour movement. This indictment by the Labour Premier of what is regarded as the “Red” State of the Commonwealth should have a salutary effect on the minds of workers who have in the past been beguiled by the specious approaches of these enemies of society. If so, it will have an excellent effect in checking that malign and progresspoisoning defilement of the body politic—Communism.

THE CLOCK GOES FORWARD

THE Summer Time Bill has passed tlie Legislative Council, which, true to an undertaking that if the House of Representatives approved of the measure for a third occasion it would not again deny it passage, allowed the Bill to become law without amendment. Mr. Sidey, therefore, is to be congratulated on the crowning of his eighteen years of endeavour with actual achievement. Whether the putting forward of the clock for one hour in the summer months will prove a boon or otherwise remains to be tested by experience. But the Act is to be operative for the coming summer only, and if the experiment is not successful it may he repealed. Daylight saving has been retained in England and on the Continent of Europe after years of experience, however, and there is no apparent reason why it should not be found equally beneficial in this country,