AT A LOW EBB.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 887, 5 August 1910, Page 2

AT A LOW EBB.

. THE IRON TRADE. •" • \; DEPUTATION "TO MINISTER. Several matters affectin;?. the iron in« austry were brought before'tho .-Minister for Customs (tho Hon. G. Fowlds) by a deputation from the New Zealand"lron- :- masters' Association yesterday. The : Hon. C. 11. Luke introduced the deputation. The principal subject brought "..before " the Minister-was tlie fact that the WaihiPaeroa Gold Extraction Company, whioh ■ is applying .to, the Government for a loan ; of i'SO.OOO, has'accepted a tender for six- ■ teeii' tube mills from an English firm, .' which, under the present tariff, can im- • port tho machinery free. It was urged that if the Government lent the Domin- ■ ; ion's money it - was only reasonable to , ask that the money should as far as pos- • sible be spent in this country, more es- ; pecially as the lowest six New Zealand: . tenders were'only slightly .in excess.of ) : the lowest English tc.ider. Tho doputa- . tion dwelt on the .disabilities to which ' the iron industry is exposed by the com- ,' petition of'other countries, where-labour' • is cheaper. ,- .. ■ Mr., William Cable stated that in con- ':■ sequence of this competition and other v. circumstances the trade-was at a' very low >bb—in fact, alniost at a' standstill.. " Either the tariff,' should the suspended, .or -. the Government should suspend the operation of the Arbitration Act as far si trade was concerned for two years. •' ''.' Mr. D. Robertson urged that the em- .; prayer's paid 100, per cent; more wages than were paid in Glasgow, and yet min-' irig and dairy machinery was atLowed in' free. How could .New Zealand manufacturers compete in those circumstances?' Mr. Fowlds said - the proposal to *8? vise the tariff opened up a very big que* tion. Any Government found it very difficult to deal with such a question, , simply because there were so many in-' teresfcs at stake, and very often what was v done,_ or attempted to be done, for .'the - benefit of one indusry, was necessarily, at; .the expense of some other industries,'anil it was the attempt to balance equally! all those different interests that made the passing of a new tariff so'difficult When the last tariff was going through; the Government received a. large amount of adverse criticism for the step-it took . in the interests of .the engineering itoade, and although they might think thai'tiev amount' gained seemed, a bagatelle,/-.it .was'a bagatelle-that.had-been character- i ised in certain quarters as a very serious piece of wickedness. He thought that the proposal made by the depuration . that if the company was- going to receive a considerable sum of'money from,; the Government, it ought to give consideration to local' industries'- was reasonable, and he would bring.it,before the Minister • for Finance,* who, ho' had no doubt, would take a similar view of it. He added that-there.wbuld be no revision ;of the tariff this session. As to the suspension of the. Arbitration- Act, he re-; commended the - deputation to see the Minister, for Labour. , ,'■■ ; - :