CLOSING DOWN

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 58, 2 December 1930, Page 10

CLOSING DOWN

Firm Beaten by Tariffs LETTER TO MINISTER British Preferential Law Dominion Special Service. ■ Auckland, December 1. The position of local manufacturers .who imported their raw materials Under a heavy tariff and whose finished product was sold in competition with that of British makers whose materials were imported into the United Kingdom free of tax, and whose product came into New Zealand at a low preferential rate, was discussed at a meeting of the Council of the Auckland Manufacturers’ Association. The question Was raised by a letter from a hat-making firm in Auckland, which forwarded correspondence which had been sent to the Hou. J. G. Cobbe on November 27. “We regret that we have to inform you that we are closing down our factory on November 28,” stated the letter to the Minister. “We are reluctantly compelled to take this course on account of anomalies which exist as regards the Customs duties we have to pay on our importations and the unfair competition from England aud the Continent. These matters have been pointed out to you on many occasions and have been just ignored, so that we have now reached a climax.” After referring to a previous communication sent on September 14,1928, the letter states’. “The people’s and country’s welfare seems to be no one’s business. We make definite statement that the Customs point a revolver at the worker’s head and say to him that ‘you shall not have a job until vour employer pays 52} per cent duty on his raw material.* This very raw material goes into England duty-free and comes here made into hats on which there is only 27 per cent duty. “On top of this all hats made in England are made of foreign raw materia] and come out here as British manufacture Under the preferential duty New Zealand is a dumping-ground of the universe Italv is paying a bounty of lo per cent, on all hats exported. P “There is a lot of truth in what the firm has written,” remarked Mr. .1. A. “There are certain anomalies in the tariff,” sold Mr. C. B. Plummer. There is one class of. raw material on winch the duty is 52} pet cent., but I think that that duty was designed to apply td foreign goods, inking 2o per cent, ns a basis Tile English manufacturer gets liia raw materials in free and sends them out here under a 25 per cent. duty. Dumping comes into the question also. At the end of a winter or summer season at Home a quantity of goods is sent here.'arid that does not help our manufacturers, The position is really rather Se “ The question of the British preferential tariff and duty on raw materials is a very serious one,” remarked Mr. w • Parkinson. “I have no doubt that, this has been affecting all ertir industries. The president, Mr. George Finn, suggested that the matter of tariffs should be referred to the exc’/itivc with ft view to approaching the Government, find this was agreed to.