1.—12.

254

[j. GILMOUR.

To the Chairman,: In Australia the tobacco is grown mostly by Chinamen, who never buy land. The owner leases the laud. Two-thirds of the tobacco in Australia is grown by Chinamen. It is not grown by Chinamen on account of cheap labour. They get their price. The value of the land in Motueka is -£10 per acre. It would be to the advantage of the local company to go to Motueka, and I have tried to advise them that way. There is ample land in Motueka for the purpose at .£lO per acre. The busy time for cutting the leaf comes in between other crops. Tobacco-seed can be obtained from America or Australia. Both places would be pleased to furnish us with all the seed we require. The Government here have no expert whom they could send round to instruct growers. The British Empire Trading Company tried to prevent me from taking service with this company. To Mr. Graigie: At Waipukurau, on my way to Napier, I was misled. 1 was fold I would be taken to Napier by motor, but I was taken back to Wellington. To the, Chairman: There arc two small companies operating outside the trust in Australia. At the start there were eleven companies, but the majority of them have now been absorbed. We cannot get at the head to tell who it is. The British Empire Trading Company is merely a branch of it. The effect of the absorption was that one year the growers would not grow any leaf as there was no competition, 1 can give the names of eight or nine companies that were merged into one company. By having fewer companies it was better for the company that controlled, but it was all the worse for the growers. The value of the land in use in Australia is less than £10 per acre. Nelson will produce a bigger and better crop than Australia, On behalf of the British Empire Trading Company I advised Mr. Lowe how to handle tobacco. I want him now to sell his tobacco to me. He may sell to the other people, because they can afford to give a bigger price. Mr. Lowe kiln-dries his tobacco to take the rankness out of it and make it bright, I think that a small royalty for production might be given to each grower. It might be Id. per pound on the finished article, the Government to supply an expert to supervise the leaf from the start to the finish —that is, in the bale at the barn. The grower is finished with it when the tobacco is in the bale at the barn. If I had 20 acres and the Government gave me a royalty of Id. per pound, an expert to supervise the growing at different stages, and financial assistance to build a barn, I would give up manufacturing and go in for growing tobacco. It is light and interesting work, and would do for soldiers. Factory-work would also give work to soldiers. I hope to see, in three years, three hundred hands—men and women —in our factory. They make big money—up to £2 or £3 per week. It is a healthy occupation. To Mr. Graigie: The cost of a barn 16ft. by 16ft. would be about £180, and of heatingapparatus £10 or so. If the Government would advance two-thirds of the money to the growers it would be satisfactory. To the Chairman: The grower would require to get Is. 6d. per pound, which is a fair average. A man can make a lot of money out of Is. 6d. per pound. A. B. Fallovbh, Manager of the New Zealand Tobacco Company (Limited), examined. During the operations of our company at Clive Grange the only child labour employed in the growing of the tobacco was on Saturdays, when the older children were employed at 3s. 4d. per day and supplied with meals and given morning and afternoon tea. As regards the bonus of Id. per pound to the grower, Mr. Gilmour is a manufacturer and not a business man. Such a thing as Id. per pound is too small and out of all reason. I desire to bring before the Committee the fact that the trust has started to operate. The Mercantile Gazette reports the registration of W. D. and H. O. Wills (N.Z.), a private company, on the 17th April, 1919, with a capital of £10,000 in 10,000 shares of £1 each, and with the object of carrying on the business of growers of tobacco, manufacturers, importers, brokers, &c, and agents in connection with tobacco in all their respective branches. The trust has opened a factory in Wellington, and it is ready to operate. They would have been turning out cigarettes to-day if we had not secured their manufacturer. They hold 600 hogsheads of tobacco in Wellington, each weighing approximately 800 lb. The American tobacco pays 2s. import duty, and the trust people mix it with New Zealand tobacco and save that amount on the local leaf. They can afford to pay 2s. more than we can. They can mix the imported leaf with the New Zealand leaf, and sell it as the brands that are well known on the market to-day. The local company manufactures the brands known as " Three Diamonds " and " Gold Pouch." To the Chairman: We get the benefit of the import duty of 2s. on the imported leaf, but we are selling at Is. for If oz. as against the trust's Is. 4d. We are trying to keep down the price if tobacco. We have to pay Is. excise duty. Witness: With regard to the unsuitability of the Hawke's Bay land, we realize that it is not exactly an ideal place or equal to other parts, but we have other places in view. There is land towards Petane which is reasonably outside the frost area, and we can get 100 acres there at a small rental for our growing. We are prepared to allow our expert to supervise growing operations, but not if the growers sell to the trust, Our company are placed in this position : On a previous occasion we asked you for a refund of the duty we had paid, such refund to be regarded as a bonus for the starting of the industry in New Zealand. We have spent a considerable amount of money in trying to put it on a sound basis, and we feel that we are entitled to the support and assistance of the Government in still furthering the industry. We would like the Committee to give the matter earnest consideration, because we are sincere in our efforts to make the industry worthy of New Zealand. To Mr. Veitch: I suggest that the preference should be limited to companies with purely local capital to begin with. Under the circumstances I think the preference should be Is. per pound