CUSTOMS DUTIES

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 16, 19 January 1921, Page 7

CUSTOMS DUTIES

DEVELOPMENT OF SECONDARY

INDUSTRIES

"In considering the question of alteration to the Customs tariff, we should first of all determine the objects, to be aimed at By sucli alteration," writes a correspondent to The Post. "Is it to be made the means of ensuring greater revenue, or 'is it to be ..used to afford relief to some sections of the community and .impose heavier burdens upon others? Or is it to bo wisely designed to protect and encourage our secondary manufactures? It is apparent that the (government 'needs all the revenue it can secure, and customs duties impose a fair and equitable tax upan all users of tho commodities taxed. Customs duties in th past have done much to build up our secondary industries, and had it not been for the duties on woollen goods and boots and shoes, we would never have had the mills and factories, which wore found so essential in providing equipment for our soldiers.

"We are attracting a large number of immigrants to this country, many of whom are factory bred, and the development of our secondary industries must go on step by step with tho development of our land to provide these now comers with employment. Every.additional farm means more clothing, books, shoes, tools, implements, etc., and everything that could bo made in Now Zealand should be made here, and so provide employment and keep as much of our money in the country as possible. We should like to see all raw materials that cannot be produced in this country admited free, and a duty of not less than 15 per cent, with an additional duty of 10 per cent, dn all manufactured goods from any country outside the British Empire, and aNfurther duty of 10 per cent, on all goods of enemy origin, that- require to be manufactured before use. Similarly with all imported goods ready for use the duty should bo 25 per cent, upon British productions, 35 per cent, upon goods from Allied countries, and 45 per cent, upon enemy productions.

"The secondary industries of Australia have made amazing progress since the introduction of the last Australian tariff, and her manufacturers are already securing large orders from New Zealand for poods which could, and should, be produced here. With sufficient protection privato capital would soon make us self-supporting, arid the prevailing fluctuations in exchange would become a thing of the past."