CUSTOMS TARIFF IN N.Z.

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27308, 26 March 1954, Page 6

CUSTOMS TARIFF IN N.Z.

NEED FOR REVISION SEEN

VIEW OF CHAIRMAN OF BOARD OF TRADE

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, March 25.

The chairman of the Board of Trade (Sir David Smith) believes that the New Zealand customs tariff, which was revised in 1934, needs revision again. Speaking to the Wellington branch of the Economic Society of Australia and New Zealand tonight, he said that revision was complicated both by the nature of the subject matter and by the international agreements to which New Zealand was a party. The board had recommended some minor adjustments.

Explaining the delay which occurred before the publication of a tariff report from the board, Sir David Smith said that after a public inquiry had been completed the board found that further inquiries were not infrequently neceessary to check the information or obtain more information about the cost of likely competing imports. If the board’s recommendations were affected by international trade agreements, delay arose through consultation with other governments. Contrary to public opinion, the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs did not constitute a major problem, because care had been taken either not to bind items under G.A.T.T. or to secure their unbinding when a revision of the duties in respect of those items had seemed likely. However, sometimes consultations under the Ottawa Agreement were'required. The preparation of reports usually took considerable time, it not being easy to obtain staff competent in the work. After the reports had been written and settled by the board, they had to be considered by the Government, and sometimes by other governments. There seemed to be no easy way of overcoming the delay in having the Government decision announced. Sir David Smith said that he would like the board to develop its staff so that it could state with reasoned confidence its view on whether a New Zealand industry / was reasonably efficient compared with a competing overseas industry. During the three years of its existence the board had conducted 36 tariff inquiries,, and decision on 14 had been released, but that did not mean that the Government had in hand reports on all the others. The board had disposed of about 2200 appeals and disposed of a number of important problems submitted to it by Government departments. At present the flow of appeals was 15 to 20 a week.