N.Z. tariff cuts ‘could help Scottish textiles’

Press, 28 March 1981, Page 27

N.Z. tariff cuts ‘could help Scottish textiles’

NZPA staffcorrespondent 1 London The relaxation of New Zealand tariff barriers against textile imports could help the ailing Scottish woollen industry, according to a Scottish member of the European Parliament, Mr Alasdair Hutton, the Conservative representative for the South of Scotland. New Zealand had discovered that a high degree of protectionism had not saved its textile industry, he said, after his return from a visit to New Zealand. Government officials had told him that the struggling New Zealand industry would be exposed to an increasing degree of foreign competition. He had been told by the Under-Secretary of Trade and Industry (Mr Allen) that the tariff would be cut from 65 per cent to 40 per cent but this was still too high. “However, it does represent a welcome' move in the direction of opening up the New Zealand market, which has been highly protected for years,” said Mr Hutton. This electorate includes the Borders, the principal tweed and knitwear manufacturing area in Scotland. The recession has badly affected the area and many long-established mills in woollen-industry towns such as Hawick, Jedburgh, and Melrose have either closed or reduced their working hours.

Mr Hutton spent a week in New Zealand with other members of the European Parliament on their first such visit. He also expressed fears that lamb imports from New Zealand could disrupt the Scottish market. Late arrivals of lamb from New Zealand could clash with the lamb boom in the

Borders, according to some analysts, in the wake of last year’s introduction of the European Economic Community's sheepmeat regime. The penetration of the Scottish lamb market by the New Zealand Meat Board is not particularly high. Most of the imported lamb sells south of the border.