EFFECT OF NEW DUTY

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 47, 23 August 1930, Page 11

EFFECT OF NEW DUTY

SALES MAY DECLINE

(By Telegraph.)

(Special to "The Evening Post.")

Dt/NEDIN, This Day.

As tho Government's proposal to increase the duty on motor-cars from Canada has not yet been approved by Parliament, importers in Dunedin mostly concerned are declining to comment on the new duty. They admit, however, that they will bo badly hit by the new duty, and that the new prices will probably affect sales. Just how much the price of cars will bo increased cannot at present be estimated, as one large firm, General Motors, does its assembly in New Zealand and uses a large quantity of Dominionproduced products. General importers of American cars are, of course, gratified that the Government is taking steps to bring Canadian-assembled ears closer in the Customs tariff to the' American cars. "For too long importers of cars under the American scale have had to face the added competition of tho lower tariff for Canadian cars," said one importer. "AYe have long been hoping for an incroase as the opposition has evaded tho duty by transporting parts to Canada and assembling cars there. After all, the capital has been American. However, the new tariff will not have any beneficial effect on our trade in genuine American cars immediately, as people have not the money to spend on oars." "It is bound to send prices up, but 'to what effect it is impossible to say yet,''f said the representative of Ford Motors, Ltd.