BURDEN OF FOREIGN IMPORTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 685, 10 June 1929, Page 10

BURDEN OF FOREIGN IMPORTS

PAYING FOR UNEMPLOYED A speech of particular interest to New Zealanders interested in the development of their country was reported in the Northamptonshire "Journal of Commerce” for February, 1929. By substituting the Avords "New Zealand” for "British” in the following article, the subject matter will be found, to be remarkably apropos of the position in the Dominion today. Speaking at the first annual dinner of the Northampton and County Junior Chamber of Commerce, Sir Gilbert Vyle, K.8.E., asked the company to join him in a little “mental arithmetic.” "The other day,” he said, “one of our authorities placed an order abroad for £IOO,OOO worth of electrical material, on the ground that by doing so they made a saving of £4,000 or £5,000 on the British quotation. He wondered if the authority concerned had thought that a heavy, though invisible import duty would have to be paid on these goods. "In a manufactured article,” proceeded Sir Gilbert, "84 per cent, of the cost is represented by wages, which in this case would amount to £ 84,000. Assuming that a man earns about £3 a week it is obvious that work would have been provided for 560 men for a year. In stead, however, of being employed, these men have been out of employment, and we have had to maintain them. A man cannot be maintained for less than £2 a week, or £IOO a year, and, if you multiply this figure by 560. you get the sum of £56,000, which has to be found by the whole community to keep the men who have been out of employment because this material was purchased in a foreign country.” This example could be multiplied a hundred time, and yet this country seems prepared to go on paying this enormous bill, when the remedy is here at hand. Great Britain has the largest per capita taxation of any country in the world, due in large measure to the cost of maintaining our large army of unemployed, but by the steadfast buying of British goods this can be greatly reduced. What does it matter if temporarily the cost is higher? By buying British goods more British people will be put into employment. This will mean that less money will be paid out of rates and taxes in the maintenance of the out-of-work. and this again will enable manufacturers to reduce their costs of production. In their own interests and in the interests of the community no authority, trader or individual, should buy from foreign sources a single article which is made or grown in this country.