FREE-TRADE ADVOCATE

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 180, 20 October 1927, Page 18

FREE-TRADE ADVOCATE

UPPER HOUSE DISCUSSION

HON. A. S. MALCOLM’S VIEWS

(THE SUN'S Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. TRADE for New Zealand was strongly advocated by the Hon. A. S. Malcolm, Southland, when the Customs Ameyidment Bill was before the Legislative Council this afternoon. The Leader of the Council, the Rt. Hon. Sir Francis Bell, moved the second reading of the Bill. Mr. Malcolm said that while the Council could not in any way amend the Bill, there were several points on which he wished to speak. He had a great deal of sympathy with the Government and the Minister of Customs, the Hon. W. Downie Stewart', in that the Minister had been subjected to great pressure by those whose interests led them to support the present or a higher tariff, and he. had had little support from the people who would suffer by a higher tariff. The people interested in high protection were a mere handful, noisy and persistent though they were. The consumers, who were the bulk of the population, did not indulge in propaganda; they were silent, but it was the silent vote that counted. Mr. Malcolm went on to say that the cries raised by the protectionists were entirely misleading. It was false protection to make things dearer than they need be. It did not encourage local industries, but rather industries that were not local to New Zealand, and that were “unnatural.” It would not keep the money in the country, for imports paid for exports. Neither would protection encourage shipping; the best way to do that was to give the shipping companies plenty of freight both ways. Further, protection encouraged bad management. Mr. Malcolm instanced the case of the Kaiapoi Woollen Company, of which it was said that owing to grossly bad management it fell into a very bad position. While that fate had overtaken the Kaiapoi Mills, the Mosgiel Woollen Company, under the same tariff, had added to the shareholders’ capital. Referring to wheat growing, Mr. Malcolm said that it should be possible for growers to do without the tariff. If there were a scarcity of wheat in New Zealand, owing to a drought in Australia, the price of imported wheat would not be increased by more than Is a bushel. Sir John Sinclair said that he had been associated for many years with the Mosgiel Woollen Company, and he was satisfied that no New Zealand woollen company could have carried on without protection. After further discussion, the second reading and committee stages of the Bill were passed. The third reading was fixed for Friday.