DUTY ON BUTTER BOXES

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 175, 14 October 1927, Page 12

DUTY ON BUTTER BOXES

OPPOSED BY DAIRYHQ MR. GOODFELLOW’S VIEWS STRONG resistance tow,.* move of the tariff ,11! *"Y tend to increase the coet*« duction of dairy produce w-„ pr ®- made by the industry .?* William Goodfellow?’ director of the New Zealai!?*i"* operative Dairy Co Ltd C °- interview to the Press. ’ "*" Mr. Goodfellow was refem„_ larl.v to the t triff restrictions iP*nfcttimbers used for butter-boxes. uuia -~ture Dairy companies, he said h.s . pose of nearly all their prodS! «*• protected markets in comt>etit'„ E countries which had a much low°.? dard of living that that which *Li t **- in this country. . n In face of this any lerislaMiM. _ aimed at bolstering up a dvin* i*s the timber indusujAt the ex^f U> ' one which was the mainstay of th. * try would be most short-sighted co,El ' Admittedly, said Mr. Goodfellow pine was the best available tlmih** butter-boxes, but the fact ,v tw New Zealand sawmillers could no. butter-boxes and cheese crates on market at a price that could oil®* with the imported article. For a of years the New Zealand Co-oi»S!5? Dairy Co., Ltd., had been manuiacntS:' its own boxes at Frankton, and year's operations had resulted in a of over £30,000. Last year thf fLIS was operated at a profit of £25,4“t Dealing with newspaper statement* specting the refund of duty imported boxes where they ara r-J? ported full, Mr. Goodfellow said •‘drawback” system had been in operatS? for many years, not alone with wm*., to butter-boxes and cheese cratesb2 touching other articles quite ouiside dairying industry. There was no das culty or excessive expense attiichJt* the working of the scheme—collabourtk* between the Customs Department a*!s grading stores facilitated its app|)M? It was a matter of consummate daaet* discern at a glance which boxes forex port were made of foreign timber, and make the refund allowance accordinch The large amount of “drawback" iriwt was due to the excessive importations ot foreign shooks in the previous vear It was a question of vital importance ta the dairying industry that a permanent substitute for white pine should be m&fe available. The supply of kahikt.tea vru very limited, and, with the exceptton of the West Coast of the South Island, then would be very little available in another ten years. To abolish ihe drawback of duty would serve merely to inflate the value cf the limited quantity of suitable timber left in the country and held by a few cawmillers, A good deal of propaganda had appeared in the Press lately with the object of inducing Parliament to delete the rebate clause, but for the reasons advanced in the interview, said Mr. Goodfellow, the .ndustry would, on spend groundp, oppose such a move.