ADJUSTMENT OF TARIFFS

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20979, 6 October 1933, Page 11

ADJUSTMENT OF TARIFFS

—.—s■' THE COMMONWEALTH'S MOVE RECTIFYING FALSE POSITION (utnrzD pr.sss association—by ilectbic TELEGRAPH—COPIBIGHT.) (Received October 5, H.2 p.m.') CANBERRA, October 5. The Minister for Customs (Mr T. W. White) introducing the tariff amendments in the House of Representatives, said that the adjustments proposed would not expose Australian manufacturers to undue competition, because the maximum deduction from duties would be only half the adverse exchange rate. The successive increases in many duties in recent years, the adverse exchange rate, and the primage duty, coupled with reductions in wages, rents, and interest charges, had resulted in many industries being overprotected. The Tariff Board had therefore attempted to rectify this position where practicable. Of total primage remissions, British goods would receive 66 per cent., those from other British countries 14 per cent., and those from foreign countries 20 per cent. A new feature of the primage duty was preferential treatment for goods entitled to the British preferential tariff. The Government had also decided that a tariff adjusting formula should be applied where depreciated currencies gave foreign countries an advantage over Australian industries. The Government had also accepted the Tariff Board's recommendations to adjust British preferential duties to meet the increased protection afforded by the Australian exchange rate. The immediate effect would be to reduce many existing duties by one quarter.