Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1911. THE IRON INDUSTRY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10264, 16 June 1911, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1911. THE IRON INDUSTRY.

The ironmasters of New Zealand have represented ito Hie Minister of Customs (Hon. R. MoKenaLe) that the industry in the Dominion is languishing, and they hare istrongly appealed for an increase an the Customs duties on imported ironwork. Tilie Minister has given a somewhat evasive answer. He pretends a great concern for the welfare of those engaged in the iron industry; hut at the same ttimie he asks what is to hecome of the farmer and ithe miner if the cost of machinery is jput up. It may assist the public to arrive at a conclusion in the matter when the existing tariff is enumerated. Aifc the present time the Customs tax on the chief manufactures of anetal is, as follows: Engines and (machines for mining purposes, o per cent., ad valorem ; machinery for flournmilling, refrigerating, dredging, woollen milk, paper mills, rope and twine making, oil refining, boring, meat preserving, and leather splitting, 5 per cent.; printing [machines, etc., 5 per cent.; soda-water machines, 5 per cent.; steam engines and pairts thereof, for mining, 5 per cent.; electric machinery, motors, etc., 10 per cent.; bicycles, tricycles, hil-hooks, hush-hooks, land and crab winches, cranes, Capisfans, electric batteries, and all lrindis of firearms, hardware and ironmongery, wrought iron pipes, lawn mowers, lead-headed nails, macliinery not otherwise enumerated, manufactured or paa-tly manufactured articles of metal, isteam engines not otherwise enumerated, each 20 per cent.; galvanised iron' manufactures, japanned and lacquered metal wares, and tinware, 25 par cent. To the above is added a preferential surtax on foreign' goods averaging 10 per cent. R will he seen,'therefore, that not a single item of ironware manufactured in foreign

countries is admitted at a tariff of less than 15' per cerii., whilst the great bulk of the metal manufactures carry a duty far in excess of that amount. The question naturally, arises, how far can the country be expected to go to protect the iron industry? Is it a proper thing that the country districts' should be burdened with an additional tax to maintain city industries and to assist in a policy of centralization ? The Official Year Book of 1910 shows that there were .seventyone iron and brass foundries an the Dominion, employing 1838 hands, and paying £145,042 a year in wages. The total value of the output was £376,527. As against this, there were employed in sawmills and sash factories alone 9111 hands, whose wages amounted to £834,371, and whose output was valued at £2,128,766. The flaxmills of the Dominion employed 4076 hands with a ■wages sheet of £227,460, and an output valued at £-557,808. There were in 1906 a total of 56,359 hands employed in the various industries of the DWinion, and rthe value of the output was £23,444,2.35. It will plainly be seen, therefore, that the metal industry is of very ismall importance compared with the other great industries of the Dominion. Are we going to lallow our sawmills, our flaxmills, our meat-freezing works., our primary industries to languish for the mere sake of preserving seventy-one iron and brass foundries employing 1838 hands? That is the question which the Minister, and Parliament, has to decide. There can be no question as to what the ansAvier will be. This country depends, and .will continue to depend, almost entirely upon its rural, (industries for its sustenance. Are we, then, going to penalise those who are engaged dn these industries for the sake of a handful of ironfounders? If the metal manufacturers of this country are not flourishing, they should take the alternative and get out. There is an abundance of room in the country districts for other and more important industries, and these should foe encouraged in every way possible. Rather than raise the already high tariff, the Minister and Parliament wiould . be consulting the best interests of the country by removing the tariff from those articles which are essentia! to our internal development.