AUSTRALIAN TARIFF

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 11, 7 October 1927, Page 11

AUSTRALIAN TARIFF

CREATES STAGNATION IN INDUSTRIES “PROTECTION FAILING TO PROTECT MENACE OF RISING COSTS OF PRODUCTION The Australian Tariff Board admits that the imposition of increased tariffs on certain classes of imports, designed to improve the position of several important industries, lias resulted in stagnation in those industries, and gives a warning that there is a danger of the tariff being used (o bolster up the everincreasing cost of production. BY Telegraph—Press Association. (Copyright.) Canberra, October 6. In the annual report of the Tariff i Board presented in the House of Representatives, the admission is made that the imposition of increased tariffs ' on certain classes of imports, designed to improve the position of several important industries in the Commonwealth, : has merely resulted in stagnation ■in those industries, lu other words, the report states that it is apparent that “Protection is failing to protect.” The Board gives a warning that there ; is a danger of the tariff being used to bolster up the ever-increasing cost of production, irrespective of any consideration to the ever-widening gaps between the standard maintained within the Commonwealth aiid the United • Kingdom. The disparity’ in wages not only affects industries using materials . wholly the product of Australia, such , as the iron and steel industry, but ex- 1 perience has shown that even industries using appreciable proportions of imported materials are. .placed at a serious disadvantage with products from overseas.

The Board regrets being obliged to place on record its conclusion that there . is in the Commonwealth a prevailing , tendency calculated to abuse the protective system, and, by forcing the pace ! under disadvantageous conditions, to endanger the efficiency of the system. The tendency is declared to be not confined to one section, but to be common to industrial unions and secondary and primary producers. The Board is profoundly convinced that if Australian industry is to be maintained and safeguarded, it .is essential that the leaders of industrial unions should recognise the serious menace of rising costs of production. The situation is regarded by the Board as too critical to waste time on trumped-up charges of bias. The Board calls for the serious attention of all parties. Otherwise there can be nothing but disaster ahead LONDON PRESS COMMENTS ON REPORT (Rec. October 6, 8.35 p.m.) London, October 6. The Liberal Press features cabled ex- . tracts from the Australian Tariff Board’s report. The “Daily Chronicle” states that the' worsf of ’ protection is that when it is once adopted it becomes an octopus, fastening its tentacles on tile neck of the State. There is a whole network of vested interests in Australia readv to resist reduction in the tariffs to the utmost The “Daflj’ News” states :/‘What the example of Australia proves is that even peoples apparently self-supporting and self-contained and far removed from the internecine struggles of States with artificial boundaries and interlocked industries cannot play with high, tariffs without penalty. When America has discovered what Australia and Europe have discovered, there will be real hope for an economically sane world.” NEW SEAPLANE CARRIER COST ABOVE CONTRACT PRICE Canberra, October 6. Tn the House of Representatives the Prime Minister (Mr. Bruce) stated that the new seaplane-carrier now building “ cockatoo Dockyard cost £1,325,250, - about £400,000 above the contract price, owing to increased charges for armament and ammunition, the 44-hour week, and the Workers’ Compensation Act of New South Wales. •-