IMPORT TAX MEANS £250,000.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 25, 30 January 1926, Page 6

IMPORT TAX MEANS £250,000.

BURDEN ON THE WHOLE COMMUNITY. : CANTERBURY THE ONLY GAINER. The Canterbury farmer want? a free market in order to sell his wheat at the highest price, but at tlie same time wants Government protection of 1 '.1 pet bushel in order that he may exploit his full freedom. For the present season owing to adverse weather conditions the wheat crop is short of requirement? by at least four million biu-hel?, New Zealand requires eight million bushels and consequently four milioiis will have to be imported, an 1 this will have to pay a duty of 1 '■> per bushel. The price of Australian wheat to-day is Gli per bushel in Australia, to freight it over costs 1 ' per bushel, and plus 1/3 duty makes the cost in any North Island jmrt R i) per bushel. The freight and sacks from «outh to north is, say. Od per bushel. therefore the Canterbury farmer can get S per bushel and still be as cheap as the Australian landed wheat. On his irop of four million bushels the extra sum represented by the duty—amounting to a quarter of a million sterling—has to he paid by the general public, very largely the farming community of the North Island. 1 here is another very serious aspect of this question. atlc i ; t is this: Assuming that the Canterbury farmer obtains the higher rate for his wheat owinnr to the wheat duty of 1/3 per bushel, there is still to be imported four million bushels of wheat or its equivalent Hour, pollard and bran, and as pollard and bran in Australia fetch very high prices the Australian miller is enabled to sell his Hour at a special export price much below the domestic price in Australia. This would necessarily mean that every ton of Australian flour imported would result in a loss of SOOlbs of pollard and bran to the North Island farmer. Then the poultry farmer has also his requirements of wheat, li the duty on Australian wheat were suspended, the cost of importation would lie 0/0 plus ] ' freight to c.i.f., making the cost 7/6 c.i.f. North Island ports. That would l>e the basis on which the poultry farmer would buy his supplies. It is estimated that nearly a million and a half bushels are required for poultry purposes. So the many thousand poultry farrier- of X<-w Zealand contribute :''.' ;.7.-|(i as an nmie e-sary tax on their intlii-try in or:!er v. satisfy the comparatively -;. ;iij.. r numl-er of brother farmers v h , cjrow v h:\-u in Canterbury. I'll a rough calculation, it could be taken that three-tif hs of the poultry production i> in the Knrtii Island, which ireans the North's -liar- ..f the Canterbury farmers tax on wlr-at alor.e is the modest sum of £.-)0.2.'>". The quantity of bran and pollard consunied in New Zealand yearly is approximated 00.000 tons. According to the tariff the duty on offal imported is £2 10/ per ton," but last year the Government temporarily reduced the duty to £1 per ton. Assuming the Government decide to charge the lesser amount, the New Zealand farmers will contribute a further £00.000 in the way of duty on this offal, for the bulk of it will have to be imported, as whatever quantity is manufactured in New Zealand will naturally lie valued on the imported basis. From" the foregoing it will be seen that there is a very serious danger o f supplies of offal becoming short. Australia will export flour at her special export price and retain the offals as far as possible for her own requirements. In the event of drought conditions supervening export would become impo.-sinlc during such times Australia has imported offals from New Zealand. Hence the fanners who use bran and pollard will have to face an increased price for certain, and possible jeopardy of supplies. Whilst this prospect may please the Canterbury wheat growers, it will have quite a different aspect to our many thousands of dairy farmers and to the poultry farmers who are large users of pollard. ' 'J he only course open to the Government in the interests of the public and the northern farming interests would appear to be to immediately suspend the duty, at any rate on wheat, so as to avoid the unnecessary extra tax of a quarter of million aoinrr from the pocket or the public into that of the Canterbury wheat growers, who would in receiving the Australian price plus freight and import charges, without the further tax m 1/3 duty, obtain a record price for their wheat.