CUSTOMS TARIFF

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 34, 10 February 1927, Page 13

CUSTOMS TARIFF

HOW STANDS THE FARMER?

"Evening Post," 10th Feb.. Is the farmer sufficiently protected by the Customs tariff? The question was raised last week at the meeting in Wellington of the Now Zealand Farmers' Union executive. Mr. W. J. Poison, president, is reported to have said:

. Everything else was being protected. The producers were unable to pass an liigh charges because they tiad hardly any protection, and if any other class in the community .was to be sheltered, why not also the producer? That was a thing they had never thought o£ before in New Zealand. He was not suggesting that the idea of., protection was sound or unsound, but he merely wished to draw attention to the fact that it ' was in operation successfully in the Commonwealth. In the United States it was actually being put into effect now. It seemed advisable to consider some method by which the primary producer would be able to participate in the benefits, which tariffs gave to every other section of the community. The primary producer in' this country received no benefit in that way, and was up against it. Mr. Poison had been referring to the Paterson export butter duty by which the price of Australian butter had been raised to the Australian consumer by 2d per pound. Mr. Poison said he felt that the argument in favour of that scheme was quite sound.

The question arising out of the discussion by the executive was: Is the farmer sufficiently protected by the existing New Zealand Customs tariff? The items on which the farmer pays no duty and those which he produces but are taxed if they are imported will be seen hereunder, and readers must form their own. opinion as to whether already the farmer receives no benefit from the tariff.

Duty Free to Duty Paid by Producers. Consumers, -^sles , Apples, lb .... Id Agricultural maehi-Apricots .... Id

cry Blackberries, lb %d Barb, wire . Cherries ; Id Baling wire Currants, fresh. %d ' Belting Bacon, lb '.... 2d Beekeepers' plants Butter ; 20% Billhooks Lard .......... 20% Butter boxes Barley, pearl lb 2d Cultivators Chicory, lb . 2d Cheese colour Cider, gallon 2s Cattle spice • Citrus fruit pulp 20% Chafi • . • Dried Milk ...'25% Cheese crates Egg in shell .. 20% Cheese bandages Fruit pulp, lb . l%d Cheese vats Fruit, in juice . 25% Dairy machinery Fruit trees ... 25% Dairy pumps Fruit juices .. 20% Fruit cases Flour wheat, ton £3 Fencing wire '. Wheat, ton ... £2 Fertilisers ■ Oats, ton. .... £3 Grass seeds, all Maize, ton .... £2 .Horses, stud Barley, ton ... £2 Molasses Oatmeal, lb ..*'.' %d Parchment paper Olives '.'. 20% Phosphoric acid: Onions, ton £1 ; Ploughs Passion fruit, lb Id ! Poultry incubators Potatoes, ton ..,£1 I ■ Rennet for factories. Peas, split, lb Vz& [ Salt Peaches, lb .-. Id I Scythes Pickles, gal. .. '3s Sheep, dip • Presery. uiilk ■. 25% Sheep wash Provision ;...-. 20%' Sheep lick Sugar of milk . 10% Sheep shearing ■ Strawberries, lb Vzi machines Vegetables •■ 20% Tractors for orchards Rasp, vinegar . 20% Raspberries, lb %d Tomatoes, lb . Id ! Linseed oil, gal. Is • • Horses, head . £1 Honey, lb ... 2d Meats, potted . 20% The above list does not profess to be complete, but it requires to be ■- read as gmng the lowest duties levied on products 01 the New Zealand farmer and that may compete with him in this mar- [ Kst. i(y treaty with Australia, for instancy oak from that country, are admitted at Is Gd per cental of 100 pounds, chaff ls free from Australia, but if from other countries it pays £1 per ton. H>e>s m any prepared form are prohibited imports, save with consent of the Minister ol Customs. The lowest or British preferential rate of duty I'is taken in considering the protection of the producer in the iorm of duties that must be paid by the consumer. ' The general tariff (charged on' foreign goods) provides for increases over the rates above given of from 10 per cent, tolo per cenK For instance,'where an article is shown as "free" (British • preferential) there is usually 10 per cent, more it it is not British, and where there is 20 per cent. British preferential, the duty on a foreign corresponding article misrht be 35 per cent. On oranges and bananas and prunes the ' consumer pays'no duty. Of course imports of "certrin articles can be prohibited in the special interests of producers. This has been done with respect to flour. The Minister can admit some necessaries duty free, and this has been done in the case of wheat for poultry. ....... j In the above items there will be found articles that the farmer does not produce m' their completed form—oatmeal,' eider, for instance—but .the duties on such articles 'naturally enable a higher price to be paid to the primary producer for his raw material. ; Fruit cases, butter boxes,- and cheese crates are dutiable, but if exported with their usual contents, a drawback of the duty is recoverable-co that ..they may be considered duty free When applied to their usual export purposes. •■ The above remarks and the tables of comparison of what'the producer receives duty free and what protection through the tariff he receives are made with the object of showing that the farmer was not quite overlooked when the Customs Act was a"mended in 1921.