THE PROTECTIONISTS' ASSOCIATION.

Evening Star, Issue 7469, 13 March 1888, Page 2

THE PROTECTIONISTS' ASSOCIATION.

The adjourned meeting of the Otago Protectionists' Association was held in the Coffee Palace last evening, and was attended by about Bfacty members. Mr E. T. Connell presided.

The Chairman said that the business before the meeting was to continue the discussion, which was commenced on Tuesday last, on the proposals for the amendment of the Tariff. The first subject was that of FRUIT. The Secretary (Mr A. 11. Shelton) read several letters that he had received in the interim. Among them was one from Colonel Morris, of Queenstown, who expressed the opinion that a duty on fruit would ultimately prove beneficial to the country. Messrs E. E. Himmel and J. Tamblyn, of Coal Creek, suggested a duty of id per lb on fruit, and 2d per lb on fruit pulp. The Chairman expressed a hope that as there was a good deal of business to be done the speakers would make their remarks as brief as possible. The Secretary said that he had prepared, and would move the following resolution : " That the Protection most necessary to development of fruitgrowing is a uniform tariff over the New Zealand railways ; the charge to be based upon say five carriage, irrespective of distance carried, either on the North or South Island railways. (2) That a duty of 3d per case or each 281b be placed npon imported fresh fruit; Messrs Peacock and Co.'s sulphurised fruit to be considered aB fresh fruit for tariff purposes." Mr Gay said he held that fruit should be within the reach of the masses. The fruiterers had sent in a list of the prices they paid to the growers, and if the former sold the fruit at the price they gave for it, fruit would still not be within the reach of the masses. That was an unhealthy state of things. The statement by the fruiterers had been challenged, but the growers could not deny the prices stated by the former. If a duty was put on fruit they would have to pay the present extortionate price plus the proposed duty for the next fifty or sixty : years. The Secretary Baid they had the views of both growers and fruiterers on the subject, and he felt that the great point was the bringing of the fruit into the market. If they wished to develop the interests of the trade they must establish a uniform tariff, so that a grower at Teviot could put his produce on the train and send it to Dunedin at the same rate as a grower at Green Island. This would encourage people to go up-country and start the business of fruitgrowing in the most suitable His impression was that the more they tried to improve on the Victorian tariff on Tasmanian fruit the more they would fail. That tariff was 9d per bushel of 541b. Mr W. Bull (fruiterer): Jt's 401b, not 54 ! b, The Secretary continued that he recognised that they should —in consequence of the longer passage from Tasmania to Dunedin than from Tasmania to Melbourne, and the consequent greater waster—make a reduction oil the Victorian tariff, say to 6d per bushel. The first part of his proposal, he believed, would meet with general acceptance, and the second proposal he believed to be quite reasonable. As to the last point, Victoria conceded what was proposed here, and treated sulphurised fruit as green fruit. Mr Richardson seconded the motion. Mr Dickson (lapidist) said he was surprised' to see the secretary fall into Biich a mistake as he evidently had ; he would agree with the motion if the duty were made an ad valorem one, but could not agree to a tluty of so much per case, inasmuch as under that condition a person would have to pay as much on a case of say crab-apples ns on a case of apricots or peaches. It would be like a bootmaker paying the same duty on a pair of 6s Gd boots as on a guinea pair. He could not support that.—(Applause.) Mr G. Coi.ci.ouGii said ho was sorry he could not support the motion. The object of the League was to encourage industries that would employ a large number of hands, and that was not the case with fruit-growing, for almost the sole growers were people who reared fruit just as an extra to their ordinary calling. Though he was in favor of a tax upon fruit ready for the table, which was in a sense a finished article, he objected to a tax upon fruit brought for manufacturing purposes. The League had established the principle that all raw material should come into the country free, and therefore he was against a duty on fruit imported for making jam.—(Applause). Mr Bull asked how they would equalise the cost of carriage ? If fruit was carried at a uniform rate on the railways the fruitgrowers in the suburbs of Christchurch would with little trouble and no expense put their fruit on the train for Dunedin; and where then would be the protection to the fruit-growers at Teviot and Clyde ? _ As the experience of twelve years, he might say that it would pay to give nearly four times the price for fruit locally grown, if it was well grown, that they paid for imported fruit. He paid- 2£d, 3d, and even 4d per lb for plums from Teviot, and it paid him to give it, though plums could be bought for Id per lb in Victoria. The prices given for locally-grown fruit gave ample profits, though many of the growers could not be said to be skilful growers, or to have planted the best trees. He could show that the growers up : country were making fortunes out of their fruit, and if they would send it down to him to sell on commission he would guarantee to drive imported fruit altogether out of the market.—(Applause.) But they would not send it dowp, and he made arrangements with the Teviot people for the Birpply of a quantity of jam, but they did not send a twentieth part of it. One man had claimed to have made LI ,000 by fruitgrowing, and that statement, which had been published, had never been contradicted. Here 6d and 9d per lb was paid for tomatoes, while in Victoria they were purchased for ,9d per bushel of 401b. What amount of duty would be protection in that case? Mr Haigh (bootmaker) thought that Mr Bull had hit'the hail on the head in his remarks re the railway rates. A settler at the Teviot had to send his fruit thirty miles or more to reach the railway, while Christchurch growers had only a mile or so to go. Where, then, would be the equality of an uniform rate of carriage'? If they departed from the .Victorian tariff on Tasmanian fruit they would get into a terrible mess. No one could gainsay that Victoria had prospered under its tariff. Mr Dodwell remarked that it appeared to him that the interests of the consumer were not being considered at all: He thought they should adopt a different policy from that contained in the first part of the secretary' 3 motioD, which was a most suicidal one, and would be laughed at in any Protectionist country.—(Laughter and applause ) It was cutting the legs from under Protection altogether. He himself was heart and soul a Protectionist, and though he was young he had a greater interest in the country than people had who were ten years older, because he was ten years younger than them. —(Laughter.) The secretary's policy was simply suicidal. Mr Lethaby (umbrella-maker) wished to know, if fruit was to be admitted duty free because it' was' raw material to the jam manufacturer, why should not cloth be ad-1 mitted free since it was raw material to the ten" o ''.? ~ , „ , Mr J. Neil (herbalist) said he gathered from what he had heard so far 'that everyone wanted everyono else taxed except himself.—(Laughter and applause.) They had better look after the interests of the whole colony, and with that object in view he would move as an amendment:—" That the Victorian tariff re fruit be adhered to." Mr Rankin (tailor) seconded the amendMr C. T. Paterson said that the only protection the fruit growers required was the protection they dould afford theihselves by growing the right kind of fruit, picking It properly, packing it properly, and sending it into the market in a proper condition. Mr Gay said it came with very bad taste from Mr Lethaby to aßk the question he had put, seeing that he had a good business 6,8 an umbrella-maker, simply through the material he used being admitted free, as being raw material. Some kinds of fruit could not be got here, and of other kinds where quantities were wanted little could be obtained. For instance, this season he could have taken 1,000 tons of raspberries,

but all he could get was half a hundredweight—and the same with eight or ten kinds of fruit. The growers were at present getting extoitionate prices compared with the prices paid in Victoria. Tomatoes were bought here at 5d per lb, and in Melbourne the firm purchased hundreds of cases at 6d and 9d a case. For peaches 5d per lb was given here, and Is a case in Sydney; and for apples per lb was given to the growers here, and 9d per bushel in Melbourne. He had thought that the secretary knew the elementary principles of Protection, but he evidently did not, for he proposed to levy the same duty on a dear article as on a cheap one ; he would put the same duty on fruit for the eye as on fruit for jam, and the consequence was that he (the speaker) would have to pay the same duty on fruit for jam as on the first-class article. If he could not obtain fruit here, did they not think it unfair to place a duty on what he could obtain?—(Applause.) He might add that all the material used by his firm, including timber, sugar, etc., was all bought here, and that they employed a large number of hands. The secretary's motion merely meant placing a higher duty on the raw material than on the manufactured article, and the resolution should, he thought, be divided.

The Secretary remarked that each Protectionist must give to the other, and they must no longer quarrel among themselves. He had no knowledge of an ad valorem duty being a first principle of Protection. Mr Gay : I'm not willing to pay any duty. The Secretary said he was willing to separate the motion into two, and would substitute "an ad valorem duty equivalent to 3d per case of 281b."

Mr Gay moved as an amendment—" That fruit sold for jam manufacturing purposes be admitted duty free." Mr Bull said that not a third of the fruit sold by fruiterers was used for table purposes, but that it was used by families for the manufacture of home-made jam. The amendment by Mr Gay was put and lost, the voting being : For, 20; against, 23. Mr Neil's amendment to adhere to the Victorian tariff regarding duty on fruit was also lost, there being 16 in favor and 19 against this amendment.

The Secretary having replied, the latter portion of his motion was put amended as follows : " That a duty of 3d per oase of 231b or its equivalent ad valorem duty, as a maximum, be placed upon imported fresh fruit; Messrs Peacock and Co.'s sulphurated fruit to be olassed as fresh fruit."— This motion was carried by 23 to 2 votes. On the first part of the motion re* commending an uniform tariff on all fruit carried on the New Zealand railway, being put, Mr 0. J. Hodqe pointed out that by this proposal fruit-growers in Central Otago would be very seriously handicapped ; since the fruit growers of Canterbury, with ready access to railway stations, would pay no more for railage of fruit to Dunedin than would be paid for the carriage from Lawrence after the fruit had been conveyed from Teviot or Clyde to that railway station. The Secretary was of opinion that the fruit-grower of the Teviot did not care much for the poinpetition of the fruitgrower of Canterbury. At any?rate he would leave it to the meeting to decide upon the motion. The motion was carried by 19 votes to 1.

THE WELLINGTON CONEERENpE. Mr J. Neil suggested that a second delegate be appointed to attend, with Mr Hodge, the approaching conference at Wellington, but a number of members objecting to this question being reopened, the proposal was ruled out of order.

COAL. The Secretary said that the following letter had been received from Messrs Reid and Gray on the question of the proposed coal duty:— Dunedin. March 12, 1888. Doar Sir,—We notice that in the proposed tariff amendments drawn out by the League a duty of 2s 6d per ton is asked for on Now South Wales coal, as a protection to native industry. This, we must advise you, would in our case be a very severe handicap instead of a protection, for wo use Newcastle coal entirely for our smithy fires, as we find it utterly impossible to use the West Coast coals for this purpose on account of the sulphur contained therein ; this element being not only disagreeable for the workmen, but very bad for welding. We have given them good trials, and had to give them up. For this reason we must therefore protest strongly against any duty being imposed upon imported smithy coal.—Yours, etc, Reid and Gray.

The Chairman invited the meeting to consider the proposal of the committee that there be a duty of 2s 6d per ton upon imported coal. Mr IiETHABr moved—"That a duty of 2s Gd be placed on all imported coal." Mr W. Swan (coal merchant) objected to the proposal on the grounds that we could not do without Newcastle coal for manufacturing purposes; that there was no smithy coal discovered yet within the colony, and mining was not sufficiently developed to supply the colony; and that the tax upon coal was a tax upon our manufacturing industries, and would not exclude Newcastle coal from consumption in this colony. Mr Colclouoh thought that the duty would secure a development of mining industry that would find' employment for hundreds of families, Who would contribute to the revenue to such an extent that the amount of 2s 6d per ton duty would be nothing in comparison with the benefit the colony would derive. If that duty was insufficient he would be prepared to douole it. Mr Swan moved an amendment to exempt coal from Newoastle from the duty, leaving the duty to be levied upon coal from other places, but the amendment lapsed for want of a seconder. Mr Neil said that he believed it was owing to the way the Union Company exercised its monopoly that Greymouth and Westport coal was dearer than Newcastle coal, understood the company paid 10s a ton for coal at Westport, that this coal was taken to Melbourne and sold at 21s, and that lis per ton was paid for coal at Newcastle to bring back to this colony. Mr Swan wished to' correct Mr Neil, as his figures were entirely wrong. ' The price of coal at the Westport mine was 15s j?d per ton. On the question being put, the motion in favor of the adoption of the dutj> was carried by 27 votes to 2. ' ' i PRECIOUS BTONES. The said that 5 the next proposal to consider "was the imposition of 25 per cent, on precious Btones. He understood that diamonds could not be cut in this country. ' " ' ' . Mr' Dickson wished the duty to be imposed on allpreeious Btones, whether set or unset. He admitted that no one at present cut diamonds in New Zealand; but it was done in Victoria, and there Were men here who could do it. He thought the duty should be' imposed, abd if it were not the revenue would be defrauded.

Mr Goldstein (jeweller) supported what Mr Dickson had'said, and remarked that the practice was often resorted to of sending rings and brooches set with paste, the jewels for them' being sent separately, marked f6r the places they were to becupy. In that way payment of much the larger part of the duty was evaded. The motion was carried newt. dis. SEIDLITZ POWDERS AND PERFUMERY.

The Secretary said the next proposal was for 25 per cent, on seidlitz powders and perfumery. ' Mr'Neil proposed that the whole of the remaining proposals be adopted in globo, as follows :—Seidlitz powders and perfumery, 25 per cent, duty; barbed wire, 25 per cent.; cement, 2s per barrel: spirits—that the duty be 25 per cent, less for spirits manufactured in the colony • than for imported spirits; passengers' luggage—that the exemption be reduced to L 25; scrap iron, lead, and zinc, 3d per lb export duty; that goods imported for use of Government be brought under the same tariff and de. livery taken in the oolony; and that the rest of the tariff be the same as the Victorian tariff. The motion was put and carried unanimously. I SADDLERY. Mr Richardson (sa'ddleV) expressed rogret that the recommendations of the saddlers had not been adopted by the committee in preference to following the Victorian tariff with respeot to saddlery. The Secretary said that the differences were slight. The committee had given the matter very careful consideration, and had

come to the conclusion that the Victorian tariff covered all requirements. Mr Richardson said he was sorry to hear it. The wishes of men banded together in all the other trades had been given effect to by the League. The .Secretary said that the saddlers wanted heavier duties than were in the Victorian tariff'. However, their suggestions would be handed to the delegate for consideration.

The meeting concluded with a vote of hanks to the chairman.