MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21449, 15 April 1935, Page 12

MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES

♦ VALUE TO DOMINION EMPHASISED TARIFF REVISION DISCUSSED STATEMENT BY FEDERATION ITITB PRESS Spscixl Sartiaa.) WELLINGTON, April 13. The value of manufacturing inlustries to New Zealand was emphasised iri a statement given by the New Zealand Manufacturers" Federation to the Minister for Customs (the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates) before his departure for London. The federation expressed the hope that the Minister would not contemplate any further reduction in the customs tariff on British goods. The federation stated that the Minister needed no reminder that the Dominion's manufacturing industries had already become a substantial part of the economic structure of the Dominion. in that there were in fact rather more persons now engaged in the manufacturing industry than there were In the whole of the dairying industry of New Zealand, while there were also more persons engaged in manufacturing than the aggregate number engaged in the production of neat and wool. On the latest available figures, there were:—Dairying and riairy factories. 59.700 persons" enimaged; sheep and cattle farming, mixed ;firming, and meat work.?. 64,-00; munit(iheturing industries. 66.700. In the_ year ended March. 1334. ti-.a value of the total output of manufacturing industries was approximately £32,000,000, though before the skimp it reached its peak at EHOO.OOO. It v/as thus clearly vital te welfare of New Zealand that industries should be preservjet. Preference to Briiain

Zealand manufacturers shared (the general desire of the Government and people of this .Dominion that the United Kingdom should enjoy as Mrge ns possible a share of the total import trade. New Zealand manufacturers were themselves large purchasers of goods from the United Kingdom. The extent of csuch purchases was revealed by the fact that in 1933 New Zealand .imported from the United Kingdom ,£5,378.000 istsrlins' of duty-free goods —nearly the whole ot" which consisted of plant, materials, and components for the use of New Zealand industries. The total imports from the United Kingdom in that year amounted to £ 10,83?,000; and it was thus seen that approximately halt" of ail the imports from the United Kingdom consisted of plant, materials, and components required by Dominion industries. New Zealand manufacturers had always been strong supporters of the principle of tariff preference to Great Britain, 'out at the same time, manufacturers had urged upon the Government that the existing system ot Empire preference did not altogether meet the position. They had advocated an increase of tr.e taritt en goods now obtained from other parts of the Empire which could be obtained from Great Britain. By increasing the tariff Oil Australian goods i oil kinds which. Great Britain could supuly> it would be possible to divert to Great Britain a considerable portion of the present tradc with Australia. Basic Tariff Having regard to the recent tar it! revision, undertaken to comply with the terms of the Ottawa Agreement, the New Zealand manufacturers were confident that the Government would not contemplate any further reduction of the Dominion's "basic tariff" (i.e.. her tariff on United Kingdom goods'*. It was recognised that recent tariff revision was made on an interpretation of the Ottawa Agreement which was most favourable to Great Britain. New Zealand manufacturers protested vigorously at the time, believing that, in its anxiety to meet Imperial obligation* lully and generously, the New Zealand Government, had erred in (jiving fatloo generous an interpretation to the agreement, especially by comparison with the interpretation placed" uooa exactly the same formula by the Government of Australia. Nevertheless, the Government's ruling was accepted in a reasonable soirit by Dominion manufacturers. These manufacturers now claimed, however, that the newly revised tariff should be permanently recognised as the "basic" tariff, and not subject to ar.y further .reductions in the future, so that industries might count upon some security and stability irz the condition,? to which they were mow endeavouring to I conform. It was evident that the whole seals of money values and costs m the Dominion was very rapidly adjusting itself to a higher level, represented bv an excahnge rate of £IOO sterlinl' equalling m New Zealand £l2 a! Whatever temporary advantage was enjoyed by New Zealand manufacturers during the first year or two had J<ow diminished to vanishing point. In this connexion. £t was submitted that the report of the Tariff Commission had already been continued bv results. An extract from that reuort reads as follows:—"It is ttenerallv considered that currency depreciation exercises a protective effect onlv during the actual process ot depreciation. When the process of depreciation has worked itself out and produced all its effects, and costs and prices are adjusted to the new currency levels, then the exchange would no longer operate as a protective factor. ... If this is so. then a reduction in out- tariff rates by a given percentage to compensate for the raisins of exchange, would do serious injustice to our manufacturers, and would remove some of the protection which they are intended to eniov under the existing tariff."