NEW ZEALAND IMPORTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 16, 20 January 1932, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND IMPORTS.

OPERATION OF PREFERENCE. BRITAIN'S IMPORTANCE. ANALYSIS BY DR. NEALE. * The extent to which preference is allowed to Empire products differs greatly in different parts of the Empire, tiaid Dr. E. P. Neale, secretary of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, speaking at the Empire Marketing Board exhibition of posters in the Town Hali laet evening. "There is one way in which the principle of tariff preference for Empire goods is sometimes defeated," he said. "It has been alleged in connection with Australian tariff that, broadly speaking, duties are low on goods which have to bo imported from foreign countries and high on goods which have to bo imported from British countries. The statement seems to have some application to New Zealand. We have a high revenue tariff, equivalent to 143 per cent, on spirits and alcoholic liquors and amounting to 98 per cent on tobacco and preparations thereof, but there are certain foodstuffs, our overseas requirements of which are drawn almost entirely from Empire as distinct from foreign sources, on which we have comparably high duties imposed, irrespective of country of origin, for protective as distinct from revenue purposes. I refer specifically to wheat and flour. "Some indication of the extent to which the preferential tariff has been applied to our imports can bo gleaned from the fact that of foreign goods imported in 1930 only 28$ per cent were free of duty as compared with 58 per cent in 192*1. Again, a further 24 per cent of the foreign goods imported in 1930, although dutiable, paid no higher rate than if they Jtad been of British origin, whereas the 1921 figure was 7 per cent. In 1930, 47$ per cent of our foreign imports, as compared witi 35 per cent in 1921, laboured under the disadvantage of a higher rate of duty applicable to foreign goods. It is, moreover, of interest to note that in 1930 54 per cent of our imports of British origin were classified free, whereas the correspond-' ing figure for foreign imports was 2SJ per cent. "The only country which buys substantially more from New Zealand than we buy from her is the United Kingdom. In 1930 we imported £20,000,000 worth of goods from the Homeland, whereas she bought £30,000,000, or some 80 per cent of our total exports from "US'. This latter figure is, however, a little misleading, as a by no means inconsiderable proportion of the produce we send to London ultimately finds its way to the Continent. A substantial/excess of exports over imports in respect of New Zealand's exports to the United Kingdom nevertheless existed. This is offset by an excess of imports over expoi'ts in respect of practically all the other countries with which New Zealand conducts overseas trade. Thus, in 1930 we bought £5,000,000 worth of goods from the United States in excess of the value of the goods we sold to her. In the case of Australia, the figure was £2,000,000, and in the case of Canada, £1,250,000."