CEMENT DUTY IN AUSTRALIA

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 204, 26 May 1936, Page 2

CEMENT DUTY IN AUSTRALIA

Fight Over Revision EFFECT ON BUILDING INDUSTRY “In view of the. recent development cf the building trade in New Zealand, it is of interest that there has been a strenuous light in the Federal Parliament to secure a revision of tlie cement duty.” said Mr.. Howard Elliott, who returned to Wellington yesterday evening by the Monowai from Sydney. "Tlie dutv was fixed by the Ottawa Agreement.' While protecting Australian interests, it was to enable British and overseas manufacturers to comiiete," lie explained. “The Tariff Commission recommended that in view of the high price being charged for conient the duty should be made lower, which would mean that building would become cheaper. The Federal Government was in agreement, but sectional and parochial interests quickly developed a strong opposition, and the National Government party found itself faced with a division in its own ranks. In botli the Senate and the House of Representatives members of the National Party voted against the Government. Finally, after long negotiations, a compromise was effected, purely, said Mr. Elliott, to save the faces of. the politicians in their local centres. As the profits earned from cement varied widely in different States, the commission felt they ought to be equalised. The profit in Victoria was nearly twice that in New South Wales. The effect was likely to be an all-round reduction of the price of cement, and in building costs. Business conditions in Australia, at present, were extremely buoyant, concluded Mr. Elliott, and if sufficient rain fell in New South Wales and Victoria. there was every prospect of the season being a good one.