Untitled

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 89, 12 October 1923, Page 6

Tariffs are two-edged weapons, as ib being discovered in Australia. They are tending to make export a cumbersome matter. Relations between Australia and South Africa are not altogether cordial, largely because the "Union took exception to the quality of flour which it imported two or three years ago. The ill-feeling generated as a result oi the flour transactions appears to have prompted South Africa to adopt certain measures of retaliation, and one of the first steps in this direction was the dumping duty on flour that was exclusively applied to Australia. Some months ago the Union had regulations drawn up in respect to the class of con* tamer in which flour must be imported. Shippers from Australia were doubtful whether the regulations would become operative, but they are now established. It is provided that the weight of flour in any one bag shall not exceed 2001b, including the container, and that flour shall not be imported otherwise except in bags of 1001b gross, 501b, and 251b. This means that the 1501b bag— which has been used in the South African trade —will be abolished. The matter is irritating to exporters, because stipulations of the kind involve additional expense, and in turn provide a handicap to the trade against other oversea competitors. Hitherto shippers were able to make good use of the Australian standard cornsack, but in future it is said that a special size of hessian bags will have to be made in the Commonwealth so that the South African regulation* may bo observed.