PARLIAMENT IN SESSION

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 18, 15 October 1927, Page 12

PARLIAMENT IN SESSION

CUSTOMS BILL THROUGH FINAL ADJUSTMENTS MADE After a week’s continuous consideration, the House of Representatives last night passed the Customs Amendment Bill. The Minister of Customs (Hon. W. D. Stewart) was warmly applauded when the measure left the committee stage, during which the deferred items received final consideration. There was considerable discussion over the new scale of duties for "wheat and flour, but the proposals for affording further protection to the timber industry went through without debate. - Although proceedings in committee were fully recorded in Hansard, members fully utilised the third reading to repeat their views. A speech concerning organisation of industry in preference to protective tariffs was delivered by the Prime Minister.

CUSTOMS BILL PASSED

THIRD READING DEBATE REPETITION OF VIEWS Emerging from its Committee stage with several amendments, the Customs Bill was the subject of further discussion on its third reading in the House of . Representatives last night. In the ' main, the debate was used by ‘ members to place on record the reasons fof their attitude in Committee. The Reader of the Opposition (Mr. ' H. E. Holland) said that the Labour i Party -regretted- they .-had not got. adequate protection . for the _ timber, boot, woollen, iron and coal-mining industries. The Government should do everything possible to educate the peo- . pie to use New Zealand goods. He feared very much that the tariff would leave them with revenue production, but with very little protection to local industry. The Labour Party held it was-utterly uneconomic to bring goods from overseas if they could be produced locally. If they could be produced locally, then the industries producing them weie entitled to adequate protection, and the Labou* Party were prepared to give legislative effect ' to'that principle and also to the principle that if goods could not be produced locally they should be admitted . fr Mr. G. W. Forbes (Hurunui) said ! that the Minister had lost an opportunity of increasing the duty on spirits —not necessarily to a large extent —and of decreasing the duties on some other items. He expressed satisfaction with ' the wheat duties and the hope that they would ■ work' out satisfactorily. He was surprised at the attitude of certain North . Island members. i Sir Joseph Ward (Invercargill) said titfee tariffs had been introduced since the war—l92l, 1926, and 1927—but hb ' could not find that any organised attempt had been made in any of them to help the secondary industries. There 1 had been nothing like it since his career in Parliament. All three tariffs had meant increased revenue, and he was ! afraid there would be more • money wanted next year. He was not a supporter of high protection, but he certainly favoured assisting those industries that’were .struggling to. get a hold, and which, without the tariff, would be at ! the "mercy Tf foreign' importations. Within the next twelve months about . 18,000 young people leaving school would have to be provided for, and the .tariff should be so framed as to assist in that direction. He deprecated setting the farming community against those I living in the cities and towns, and he hoped the energies of the House would be directed to promoting a closer spirit of co-operation between the two sections. The tariff imposed a bar against , every outside country except England, and in the face of such a provision the bargaining power must be simply a delusion. . ... Mr. D. Jones (Ellesmere) said several speakers had asserted that no I protection had been given to the secondary industries. When one took : ..into consideration the number of articles that had been freed, and the fact that the duty had been transferred to many lines’ manufactured in New Zealand, it would be seen that very considerable protection had been ac- , corded. . The debate on the third reading was prolonged, and was still in progress when The Dominion went to press. ASSESSMENT COURTS ; Sir,—ln your report of proceedings in connection with the holding of the As- « sessment Court in this city yesterday, may I ask you to kindly correct one or two statements appearing therein? Firstly, I am improperly described as chairman of the Bank of New Zealand. I am- a-director of that institution, but ceased to be chairidan since 1922. Secondly, I am reported to have said that "hundreds of thousands of balancesheets relating to farmers have passed i through my hands.” What I did say | was '‘thousands of balance-sheets, etc.” j Furthermore, in the course of my evidence I was careful to explain that in connection with land values I was expressing my own opinions only and was not voicing those of directors of other companies with whom I am associated. —I am, etc., HAROLD BEAUCHAMP. Wellington, October 14. r I FLOOR COVERINGS LINOLEUM DUTY. The House of Representatives decided yesterday that the duty on linoleums, cork carpets, rubber flooring, and floor mats erf similar materials, exceeding 2.80 millimetres in thickness, should , be 20 per. cent, preference and 40 per , cent, general. The scale of duty is the same ,as that brought down on October 3, but the paragraph relating to thickness (2.20 millimetres) has been embodied to meet domestic requirements. Under the amended proposal, British-made linoleums ~pf 2.30 millimetres and ..under_ will be admitted, duty free after June 30, 1928.

SOUTH .ISLAND SHIPPING The scope o£ the . inquiry the Joint i < Select Committee is conducting into the question of improving shipping facilities between South Island ports and Australia is to be widened to incorporate.determination of the ports in the South Island which it will be practic- , able to include in the itinerary of the new Island steamer Sir Maui Pomare. Notice of the Prime Minister’s intention to amend the order of reference in the manner, indicated, given in the House of Representatives yesterday, was received with approval.

DUTT ON SLASHERS

A SLIGHT INCREASE MINISTERIALISTS DIFFER \ The amended proposal of the Minister of Customs to impose a 20 per cent, preferential and a 40 per cent, general tariff on bill-hooks, bush-hooks, slashers, and hedge-knives, was carried in the House of Representatives yesterday after considerable discussion. The general rate represents an advance of 6 per cent, on the old duty. The preferential duty is the same as formerly._ Several farming members, including the Minister of Lands (Hon. A. D. McLeod) and Mr. C. E. Bellringer (Taranaki), contended that the duty was a handicap to the settler on the land. It was also stated that the total number of persons engaged in the local manufacture of slashers was only nine. Amongst the supporters of the duty were Sir Joseph Ward (Invercargill) and Sir John Luke (Wellington North) On a division, called for by Mr. Bellringer (Taranaki) the new dntv was agreed to. The division list indicated that Ministry was divided on the subject, two Ministers voting for the proposal and eight (including the Prime Minister) against it. The division list was as follows:— Ayes (against proposal), 27—Bellringer, Bitchener, Burnett, Coates, J. McC. Dickson, J. S Dickson, Eliott, Forsyth, Girling, Hawken, Henare, Hunter, Kyle, McLennan, McLeod, Macmillan, J. Mason, Nash, Nosworthv, F. J. Rolleston, J. C. Rolleston, Tapley, Waite, Walter, Williams, Wright, Young. Noes (for proposal). 38—Anderson, Armstrong, Atmore, Bartrain, Bell, Buddo, Forbes, Fraser, Glenn, A. Hamilton, J. R. Hamilton, Harris, H. Holland, H. E. Holland, Howard, Hudson, W. Jones, Jordan, E. P. Lee, Linklater, Luke, McCombs, H. G. R. Mason, Potter, Ransom, Reid, Rhodes, Samuel, Savage, Seddon, Sidev, Smith, Stewart, Sullivan, Sykes, Veitch, Ward, Wilford. IMPORTED STONE OLD DUTIES RESTORED By 56 votes to 8, the House of Representatives . yesterday approved the restoration of the old duties on marble and granite, as proposed in the amending schedule introduced .on Thursday. Replying to discussion, the Minister of Customs (Hon. AV. D. Stewart) said the Tariff Commission had considered that the interests of the stonemasons, which were much greater, should be considered before those of the quarrymen, who were relatively few in number, and that the duty should be taken off rough and undressed imported granite, marble, and other stone. In view of the representations made by the members for Thames and Motueka, he had agreed that the item should be postponed. The question was a matter of indifference to him, and he thought the proposed amendment should be dropped. No representations had previously been made for a duty, and they could not go round looking for people when they did not apply for a duty. On a division the clause in the Bill schedule providing that granite, marble, or other stone, in the rough or rough sawn, be free of duty, was struck out by 56 votes to 8, and the following proposed amendment was substituted: —Marble, cut rough or rough-sawn, free; granite or other stone, n.e.i., in the rough, British preferential, free; general, 10 per cent, ad valorem; granite or other stone, n.e.i., rough-sawn, British preferential, 5 per cent, ad valorem; general, 15 per cent, ad valorem. PRESERVED PEAS alternative duties. Provision for a special duty on preserved peas in tins or containers, including the weight of any liquid, was made by the House of Representatives yesterday. The British preferential tariff is to be 20 per cent, ad valorem, or one penny a pound, whichever returns the higher dutv, the general rate being 40 per cent, ad valorem, or twopence per lb., with the same proviso. The Minister of Customs explained tfiat the tinning of preserved peas was an important branch of the '-aiming industry in Nelson and Auckland, which had had to meet- strong competition from California. The alternative duties would meet this competition and any ■ fluctuations in the price of the imported goods. The duty on other imported vegetables, fresh, dried, or preserved, n.e.i., will be 20 per cent, ad valorem British preferential, and 40 per cent ad valorem general. SEWING MACHINES TO BE ADMITTED DUTY FREE. Under the tariff as passed by . the House of Representatives last night, sewing machines will be admitted duty free from all countries. The tariff abolished provided for free entry from the British Empire, but 10 per cent, if of foreign origin.

The petition of Kira Kapu and 47 others was referred to the Government by the Native Affairs Committee yesterday for favourable consideration, with a recommendation that no extension be granted, after the end of March next, of the term within which the Tongariro Timber Company, Ltd., may make financial, arrangements for construction of a railway.