THE TARIFF

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 255, 22 July 1920, Page 6

THE TARIFF

NO RELIEF THIS SESSION ' COUNTRY NEEDS THE MONEY The House had an opportunity of l " talking about anything and everything yesterday afternoon on ft motion to introduce a Bill. It was Mr. M'CallumV New Protection Bill under a new name, ' 'this time tho Excise Tariff Bill. It is a measure that must be ruled out under ... the Standing Orders 60 soon as it is print- .. Ed, or submitted to Mr. Speaker in final shape, because it as, as its name implies, , a taxing measure. Mr. M'Callum's idea is that Customs duties should be regulated by a sliding scale according as the prices of commodities rise or fall, tho idea being that the tariff shall be re- " 'tained at a high level so long as this •=• shall be necessary for the protection of a local industry, but that when an industry is well established the owners of it shall not be allowed to use the protection of the .tariff as a means of extorting from the public prices which are unwarranted. He suggests to tno Govcrninent that the costs of commodi- . ties under tho shelter of a protective tariff wall should be watcli cd until they reach the consumer. ■ . The Bill was taken as opening the way-

to a discussion of the need for a Teviy. sion of the. tariff, and the Government

was pressed to Amend the tariff without - ; delay. Then other members sought to ' Bhow how the revemift which might be lost by a revision of Customs duties might be regained by an imposition of higher death duties, especially on large .estates. This was, of course, a subject foreign to the Bill, but the discus- . sion of it went on for most of the afternoon. Oilier- topics were introduced later' in the debato which had even less to do with the subject matter of the Bill. For instance, Mr. Lysnar ''spoke about rates and taxes on Native . landß. The only important utterance

in the debato was that made by the ' ' I'rime Minister. There had been 'an expression of opinion from Mr. Wilford that Customs duties ought to be revised in view of tho higher costs of commodities, and that if the present rate of taxation should .be continued tho people would not be able to sustain the burden • 'piit.upon them. Mr. Massey said that tho honourable ■X, member had said' that if prices continued to soar tjiis country would bo called upon to bear a heavier burden thhn it would be able to bear. But ii:, . the .honourable gentleman knew that it would not be possible for prices to soar as they had during the past five years. References had .been made to footwear ... and woollen goods. They knew that the • price of woollens had risen phenomenally, but they knew also that recently S' tho price of wool had. fallen, and that it was still falling. Mr. Brown: The' price of the manufactured article has not fallen. » Mr. Massey maintained that there had

been a fall in the price of the manu- . r.factured woollens in the past few weeks, " and this was inevitable. The price » must drop if the price of the raw matc- , rial foil. He admitted that the fall in " the prices of woollens had been so small that it had scarcely been felt by the

■-.. retail, customer. But the price of the 1,1 " manufactured article could not be'held if the price of the raw material continued to fall, and, this must happen even-, if tho price of wool fell no further. It would be rather a bad tiling for'this country if tlio price of wool continued to full, for wool was ono of those, commodities on /which the Dominion lived, ono of the principal export products. The honourable member seemed '" to' suggest that if a revision was made of the tariff, and if the Customs tariff •were-reduced in the way he asked, tlw i"" b'urdon6 of the taxpayer in this country •would be lighter than they.wero at present. He (Mr. Massey)' wished to tell the House that the Government could not do ■without a shilling of the money it cnllected at present. ]f tho tariff were to ,be revised to-morrow they would simply *" iave to increase taxation in other diroo. ... tions. A revision of the tariff -was not a thing to be lightly ii.ndertaken. It was '] the easiest, thing in the world to cause '>. an industrial depression in a country like • this. Ho had lived long enough in the country to see depressions, and he knew how serious th'ey could be. It was not possible to introduce a scheme of tariff reform without six months preparation. , As head of the Government he was not ; " prepared to bring down a Tariff Bill, and see members scramble for advantages ai /"••he had seen happen on other occasions, i That sort of thing should be avoided f it could be avoided. Mr. 'Brown: Can't you Increase tno death duties? Mr. Massey: That is another story, and .the Honourable member may Uaa_.an opportunity of discussing something oi the sort this session. Mr. Brown: Do you think 1 am golna -, to drop .out, thonf Mr. Massey: I don't want tho Honourable member to drop out. I should h«i ' very indeed. But I hope that wnen he does go'' out—which. I hope will not bu for many years—a considerable sum will come to the State in consequent* Mr. Massey went on to say that he had just about finished tho preparation of the Budget, and it was too late for alterations to be made in it. Ho hoped to be able to doliver the Statement on Tues- - day. He had been glad of this discussion as giving him an opportunity of l saying to tho House that tl*e country could not do without any of the revenue at present being collected.. If duties ■were taken off in ino direction they would liavo to bo imppsed in another, It would not bo possiblo to reduce this, session the duties on -woollens or on' boots. There was no doubt that there was going to bo a reduction in the price of woollens and in boots in this country. ■ Supposing tho duties were reduced from 20 per cent, to 10 per cent., and prices returned to normal, where would the people employed in those industries be? e "• He did not wish to speak ns a Protec- ' • tionist—if ho had any sympathies on tho controversy he was in favour of Pree-trade-Jbut he did not want to see industries built up in this country behind tho wall of a protective, tariff destroyed by pulling down the tariff wall. He did not believo for a moment tliat it would bo possible to regulate tho Customs tariff '■■■■ by a sliding scale as vas suggeited. Any :■ e uch plan would inflict injustice* on industries, and worse still, would cause people to refrain from investing their money in industrial ventures. Ho hoped -'•"that next session members would assist him in getting through a good Tariff Bill. As td other taxation proposals, he asked members to wait for the Jiuuget. '■ The Registration of Aliens Amendment Bill,' as passed by tho Lower Honso, was yesterday read o. first time in the Legislative Council.