DIFFRENT VIEWS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 91, 18 April 1929, Page 9

DIFFRENT VIEWS.

manufacturers and

farmers.

ANOTHER CONFERENCE HELD

FINALITY NOT REACHED

A third conference was held last evening between representatives of the Farmers' Union and the Auckland Manufacturers' Association on the subject of protective tariffs, the president of the Farmers Union (Mr. A. A. Eos-) presiding.

■^ r " I"inn claimed that it was not .New Zealand's tii>t duty to provide work for other countries, as by producing all that was possible a self-reliant nation could be built up. Such a policy would make New Zealand safe from 'famines or gluts in other countries and would enable New Zealand to carry on as usual even if isolated. He claimcd that the shutting out of imports and the production of goods in the Dominion would give every means of exploring costs and tariffs, and that a tarift board could prevent exploitation or profiteering. Mr. Koss, in reply, said that it liad been stated that the luaiii need was to protect the Dominion from the lower standard of living in other countries, lie did not think it had been shown that free trade with lower costs would result in a lowering of the standard of living in New Zealand. There was practically free trade with the East, whe re wajres were very low. He claimed that the ideal was to make production units as large as possible, as, in a small country like >«ew Zealand, there would be the benefits of mass production.

Mr. Rushworth said that he classed protection as robbery. In the case of protective tariffs on the necessities of life the cost of the article was increased by at least the cost of the tariff. To assist industries it would seem necessary to remove the protective tariffs and to pay a subsidy out of the income tax revenue to those industries which needed aid. The present duties fell for the nm-t part on those least able to bear them and the people below the income tax limit.

Mr. Mills-Palmer said that it had been claimed with pride that the average production of cows had increased from £130 to £200 in the last twenty years. It could not be denied that farmers were aware that a policy of free trade would ruin industrialism.

Mr. Feisst said that while primarv producers had only increased by a smail majority the output had increased enormously. Mr. Findlav said that much of the feeling of pessimism originated with the farmers. He believed that they would eventually reach a common platform and invited the members of the Fanners' Union to meet the manufacturers and see the industrial enterprise in the citv.

Mr. Rosa said that any members of the association or of the Chamber of Commerce who cared to attend the forthcoming Farmers' Union Conference might then gain a deeper insight into the feeling of the farmers and the problems they had to face.

The conference will l>e resumed on a date to be fixed in June.