TARIFF INQUIRY

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 139, 15 June 1933, Page 12

TARIFF INQUIRY

DIPOETEES' BEQUESTS

EXCHANGE DIFFICULTY

Evidence from importers was heard by the Tariff Commission today. The Comptroller of Customs (Dr.. G. Craig) presided, and associated with him were Professor B. E. Murphy and Messrs. J. B. Goiv and G. A. Pascoe.

The abolition of duty on safes, steel furniture, steel rolling shutters, collapsible gates, etc., was advocated by Mr. Lawrence Alexander Sindon lteid, on, behalf of the Milnor Safo Co., Ltd. He said that the duty on safes was 20 per cent., and that on steel furniture 25 per cent., and asked that both duties be abolished, if the duties were abolished the local manufacturer, who was in an advantageous position because of the small capital outlay, would bo placed on a fair competitive basis.

Mr. Barcnd Van Stavcrcn, managing director of Van Staveren Bros., Ltd., asked that the duty on shampoo be reduced from 35 per cent, to 20 per cent. This preparation had \xritil two ycava ago been classified as soap, subject to a duty of 25 for cent.

Professor Murphy: If the exchange was at par would your grievance disappear^ Mr. Van Staveren: To a largo extent, but not unduly.

Professor Murphy: You understand my question: the whole of our work has been complicated by the exchange rate.

Mr. Van Staveren: Yes, undoubtedly. He also asked that the general tariff on tennis rackets bo fixed at 20 per cent, and the British preference at nil. Gut was made in Germany, America, and Japan, and the British preference would assist the British manufacturer. On fountain pens ho asked for a substantial reduction on the high grades, and also sought a decrease in the tariff on mcta fuel, which was made only in Switzerland, and for which no substitute was made in other countries. Mr. Van Staveren suggested that hairwaving and hair-cutting machines be admitted free, or at a substantially lower duty, as they were an' essential part of a hairdresser's equipment.

Professor Murphy: I have a suspicion that all these gadgets are heavily loaded before they reach 2\cw Zealand.

Mr. P«scoc: If the exchange returned to par your problem would practically disappear. .

Mr. Van Stavcren said that the exchange >was everybody's problem at the present time. In respect to toilet preparations he sought a duty of 35 per <jent. on foreign lines and 20 per cent, on British. He asked for a duty of G'jl on British and Is ou foreign cigarette . lighters. There was severe competition at present, he said, from Japan. .On-safety razor blades, he asked for a reduction of the duty from 20 to 10 per cent. Practically'the whole of the blades imported to New Zealand came from British countries.

Mr. Cecil Bowater, a warehouseman, asked for the free admission of Plapao-pads, ■which he claimed were beneficial in certain ailments.

Mr. Pascoe: Would the medical pro fession support tho application?

■ Mr. Bowatcr: I feel that they would, but I could not say definitely.