TARIFF REVISION

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20986, 14 October 1933, Page 21

TARIFF REVISION

SITTING CONCLUDED COMMISSIONERS TO LEAVE ON" MONDAY The last -of the evidence to be presented to the Tari."? Commission in Christchureh was heard yesterday morning. Members of the commission spent the afternoon visiting factories, and will spend this morning also in visits to factories. They will possibly be required to spend Monday in the same way, and will leave Christchureh on Monday night for Wellington, where further evidence will be taken. At yesterday's sitti.ig, Alvine Nor- j man Turner, director of Turner and | le Brun, Ltd., sports goods dealers, asked for revisions in the tariffs on cc. trldges and firearms. The present tariffs on shotgun cartridges, he said, were 30 per cent. British, with a minimum of 3s a 100, and 55 per cent., plus 5 per cent, surtax, foreign, with a minimum o£ 3d a 100, on cartridges of JO to 24 bore. The duties on cartr jes n.c.i. were 25 per cent. British and 50 per cent, foreign, with a 22i per cent, surtax. Witness claimed that these duties were inconsistent as the only cartridges manufactured in New Zealand were 12 gauge, made by the Colonial Ammunition Company of Auckland. He suggested that the duties should be British 20 per cent., or 2s a 100,, and foreign 45 per cent., or 4s 3d a 100, on 12 gauge; and 20 per cent. British and 45 per cent, foreign on cartridges n.e.i. The resent rate penalised shotgun owners with guns other than 12 bore. Most of them were country residents.

The New Zealand factory, said witness, could manufacture 12 bore cartridges only, and its machinery could not be adapted to make other sizes. The factory employed little labour, as most of the work was clone by machinery worked by three men and 12 girls. Foreign imports and machinery were used. Cartridge cases, said the witness, carried at present duties of 30 per cent. British witl. a minimum of Is 6d a 100, and 50 per cent, foreign, plus a surtax of 221 per cent., or 2s (id a 100 minimum. Under those conditions import of cases was practically impossible. The Auckland factory made only 12 gauge cases. It was suggested that the duties should be 20 per cent, or Is a 100 minimum British, and 45 per cent., or 2s foreign, on 12 bore, and British free and foreign 25 per cent, on cartridges n.e.i. The same applied to wads, which were at present 30 per cent. British and 50 per cent, foreign, with a 22} per cent, surtax. He suggested that they should be British free, and foreign 25 per cent. If the duties were reduced local dealers would be able to give employment filling particular requirements 'in each district.

| The duties on ball cartridges were | British 20 per cent, and foreign 45 I per cent., with a 22A per cent, surI tax. The only ball cartridges made in New Zealand were .303. They should be placed in a separate category with the same protection but without the surtax on the foreign article, and cartridges n.e.i. should be British 10 per cent, and foreign 35 per cent. Other import charges amounted to from 43 to 45 per cent. Thus there would be si ill plenty of protection for locally made 303 cartridges. Witness suggested a reduction in the duties on foreign rifles, as Britain did not produce many of the popular sizes of sporting rifle. Tariff Affects Painters. Edward John Bell, chairman of the executive of the New Zealand Federated Master Painters', Decorators', and Signwrilers' Industrial Association of Employers, asked that the duty on white lead in oil be abolished.'There was little chance of that nroducl ever being manufactured in New Zealand. About 60 men were employed in the industry in Australia, and even if it. were possible to start the industry in New Zealand the number of men employed would be insignificant compared with the 7000 painters affected bv the £6 a ton duty. White lead in oil was almost exclusively a British product, and it was held that if the dutv were abolished the loss of duty could be made up by a higher imposition on substitutes, which were inferior to white lead in oil. The present dutv protected a handful of persons at the expense of an overwhelmingly larger group. *' .

Duties on Honey. Arthur Ecroyd, in supporting il.u request that the present duties on honey be maintained, said that if the duties were removed there would be grave danger of dumping from forei-Mi countries. lie stressed the importance ot oees in agriculture. Office Equipment. -. C lV' is i! an Lawson Rollo, manager of H. M. Watson, Ltd., asked that the duties on certain office equipment be altered to allow tariffs of British free and foreign 25 per cent. More Evidence on Wheat. William Walter Hulholland, recalled to elucidate a point in his evidence on wheat, said that when New Zealand had been on an exporting basis world prices were comparatively steady i here were certainly fluctuations, but not nearly to the extent of the last tew years. In the earlier days a flat rate met the case, but the vastly changed conditions recently had stimulated growers to advocate stromdv a sliding scale. '