TARIFF CONTROL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 262, 4 November 1932, Page 6

TARIFF CONTROL.

The importance of the forthcoming tariff revision warrants the establishment of a Tariff Board. Not only has tho tariff had to be altered in terms of the Ottawa agreement, but it is very necessary that the country should be given as great a measure of stability in fiscal policy as is possible, so that plans may be laid with reasonable assurance for some years ahead. It is also necessary that the people should have confidence in the tariff authority, and this is more likely to be given to a non-political Board, operating in tho light of publicity, than to a Minister. More light should be thrown upon tariff changes. In Britain an industry wishing to enjoy the protection of the Safeguarding Act had to state a case publicly to a Parliamentary Committee, and though one may respect the wish of manufacturers to keep certain facts secret, it may be said that in general, if an industry desires protection, it should be prepared to justify itself in open Court. It is much easier, however, to say that there should be an independent Tariff Board of trusted men than to namo tho personnel of such a Board. This difficulty was stressed by the representative deputation that waited on the Prime Minister yesterday. Prominent business men are identified with some interest or other, and it is almost certain that, as members of* a Tariff Board, they would be accused of bias.! The Board, however, should certainly not be composed entirely of civil servants, and still more undesirable would be the inclusion of a Supreme Court judge. In the public interest the Bench should be kept quife clear of tariff making. One might suggest for a Board of three—and the Board should not be larger—a retired Customs official, a trained economist, and a man of standing in tho world of commerce or farming.