CHEAP PIG-IRON

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 175, 14 October 1927, Page 13

CHEAP PIG-IRON

IMPORTS FROM INDIA MINISTER SPEAKS PLAINLY (THE SUN’S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Thurs. a bounty of 30s a ton, and an anti-dumping arrangement, the Onekaka Iron V/orks, in the Nelson district, finds cheap pig-iron from India a menace to their existence. Some plain speaking was used by the Minister of Customs, the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, in answering advocates of fuller protection on this industry, in the House this evening. Mr. R. P. Hudson, Motueka, protested against the admission of pigiron duty free, coming as it did from a country where it was produced by cheap coolie labour. He asked that the. same duty should be imposed as that ill effect in Australia —£1 within the Empire and £2 outside. If nothing were done, the company would be faced with a serious position. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. H. EL Holland, urged the Minister to give some consideration to the industry. If the industry were forcoA to close down, prices would again soar. “SQUEEZED OUT” “We should not allow an industry such as this to be squeezed out by Asiatics,” said Mr. H. Atmore, Nelson. The rates of wages—lOcl a man a day in India, and 12s to 14s a man a day in New Zealand —gave the Indian company such an immense advantage that the Government must do something. The Minister of Customs, the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, said that if a duty were imposed, at least a dozen other industries would demand increased protection on the ground that the price of their raw material had been advanced. He thought that with the bounty and dumping duty the industry would be all right. Mr. Hudson said that the Onekaka Company was prepared to agree to sell at a price to be approved by the Government if protection were granted, and would put iron on the market at £ 7 10s, which was 5s below the price of the Scottish iron. He moved that the fixing of duty should be suspended for further consideration. Mr. Atmore asserted that the object of the Indian company was to squeeze the Onekaka works out of existence for the sake of getting higher prices for its own products. Mr. Atmore suggested that the reason for the Minister’s obstinacy was that one of the largest users of pig-iron in New Zealand was in Dunedin, and he used largely imported iron. MINISTER RESENTFUL Mr. Stewart resented Mr. Atmore’s implication, and said that that sort of thing would not advance his cause. (Hear, hear.) “One would think that nothing had been done by the Government for this company,” said Mr. Stewart. “It started under-capitalised and was warned from time to time. When the bounty was 12s a ton, the company’s representatives approached me and the Minister of Mines, and after exhaustive reports asked for a bonus of 20s a ton. The Mines Department said that it was no good niggling at this, and that what was needed was a bounty of 30s a ton. On that they got 30s. Then they came up against the Indian company. They had several interviews with me about two months ago. The directors and general manager were present, and the general manager said that they would be satisfied with a dumping duty and the bonus. Nobody checked him, and nobody corrected him, but the next day the secretary wrote to me saying that the opinion of the general manager was not the view of the company as a whole, and that they wanted protection. I pointed out that if I granted it, I would have demands for protection from all users of iron. That is why the Government has all along helped the company by a bounty. When other firms undercut them, they have a margin of 30s to come down on before, they can be driven oft the field.” On the division, Mr. Hudson’s amendment was lost, and free-trade for pig-iron retained by 37 votes to 28 Mr. Hudson, Sir John Luke, Mr Harris, Mr. V. H. Potter, Mr. T. Forsyth, and Mr. H. Holland voted against the Government.