SUGAR DUTY BILL

Evening Star, Issue 18729, 3 September 1924, Page 5

SUGAR DUTY BILL

THE MEASURE PASSES. REDUCTION FROM ORIGINAL DEMAND. [Pee United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, September 2. When the House sat at 7.50 the Government, by Governor-General’s Message, brought down the Customs Duties Amendment Bill, ' Mr Wilford inquired whether the Bill had to do with the sugar duty. Mr Massey replied that it had, and claimed “ urgency ” lor the passage of the measure. “Urgency” was necessary, because the Government was being pressed for this legislation from all over New Zealand at the present time. Mr Wilford replied that the Bill should pass through the usual stages, and on the question being put that “urgency” be accorded the Bill he called for a division, which resulted in the House agreeing to the Prime Minister’s motion by 38 votes to 26. In moving the second reading of the Bill the Hon. W. D. Stewart said that, while the Government proposals already •übmitted to the House had been well received, he had delayed in introducing the Bill until now, because he desired to give greater consideration to the whole question. He thereupon entered into further negotiations with the_ company, and as a result of these negotiations the company had agreed to reduce the duty agreed upon £2 18s 4d) to £2 12s 6d. He was later on in a position to make still further representations to the company in the direction of a probable reduction to it in laud and income tax, and as a result it had agreed to a duty of -]d per lb. or £2 5s 8d per ton, which, he thought, was quite reasonable. This would save to the dominion one of its most important industries, and that was surely worth while. In committee he would move to flx the duty at 3d per lb. It was not a fact that in asking for a higher duty the company had now put a pistol to the Government’s head. The Government had not been influenced in the least by the attitude of the. company, but what it considered was the effect that the closing down of the Chelsea works would have on many of our other industries. The motion that the Bill he read a second time was challenged by Mr Wilford. The Bill was read a second time 37 votes to 27. The division list was as follows: Ayes (57):

Anderson Linklater Atmore Lvsnar Bell M'Leod Bitchener M'Millan Bollard Massey Coates Nash De l<a Perrelle Nosworthy Dickson, J. M‘C. Parr Dickson, J. S, Pomaro Field Potter Girling Rhodes, T. W. Glenn Rolleston, J. C. Guthrie Stewart Hanan Sykes Harris Thomson Henare Uru Hockly Williams Hudson Witty. Hunter Noes (27) i Bartram Alacpherson Buddo Monteith Corrigan Munro Bdie Alurdoch Forbes Ngata Fraser Parry Holland Ransom lordan Savage i'iangstone Sidey Lee Smith Lye Sullivan MTlvride Wilford AUKay Wright M‘Keen In committee, the Minister moved to strike out clause 2 and insert the follow - ing (1) There shall be payable on sugar of No. 22 color or over (Dutch standard) and on invert sugar and invert syrup imported into New Zealand or entered for home consumption on or after the first day of October, 1924, duties of Customs computed at the rate of one_ farthing for every pound of such sugar, invert sugar, or invert syrup, as the case may be; (2) Part II." of the schedule to the Customs Amendment Act, 1925,;i5_ hereby consequentially amended by omitting from tho reference to sugar, invert sugar, and invert syrup as specified in the last preceding subsection the word “free” in each of the columns numbered “2” and “3,” and in each case substituting the following:—“id” per lb. A division on the question of inserting the new clause resulted in the clause being agreed to by 38 votes to 26. Mr Fraser moved that the duty be still further reduced to £1 9s 2d per ton, but the Chairman of Committee ruled that his amendment could not be accepted. After the clause had been added to the Bill Mr Holland moved a new clause: “That there shall be no increase in the price of sugar, and adequate supplies of sugar shall be maintained.” The Prime Minister pointed out that the clause was not relevant to the Bill, which dealt only with Customs duties. The Hon. Mr Stewart said the clause was impracticable. How was it to be administered? Who was to decide when the supplies were adequate and when they were not? The Chairman of Committees ruled the new clause was not relevant to the Bill, and could not be moved. The Bill was then reported from comnrittee. . Mr ‘Fraser moved to recommit the Bill for the purpose of reducing the duty to £1 9s 2d per ton. Mr Wilford said he did not believe in anv duty being placed on sugar, but if there must be duty he preferred £d per pound to 4d per pound. He would therefore support Mr Fraser’s amendment, and if that failed he would challenge tho Bill on its third reading. On its third reading Mr Atmore said lie could not vote for £2 18s 4d, because the attitude of the manager of the Colonial Sugar Company when before the committee did not satisfy him that this duty was necessary, but"he proposed to vote for the reduced proposal in the Bill in order to give the dominion industries which must have sugar that article at the lowest possible prices. He understood The Minister in charge of the Board of Trade had ample power to prevent monkeying with prices. 4 The Hon. Mr Stewart said that as Minister in charge of tho Board of Trade he had the power referred to by Mr Atmore. Besides that, he considered that the competition would keep prices at a reasonable level. Mr Sullivan said that .Air Atmore was trying to get a concession for his own particular district, but as representative of the real workers in_ the _ dominion the Labor Party was justified in endeavoring to get the concession for the great masses it represented. No facts that _ had been put before the House would justify Parliament in giving to the company a gift of £140,000 when its wages bill -V the 360 people employed by it only amounted to £75,000.

Mr Massey argued that the sugar industry must he preserved, and if the Labor Party had its way it would close the Chelsea works, and nearly 400 employees would he turned out into the streets. He was afraid much of the trade with Fiji which should come to New Zealand was drifting to Canada. He would lie the Minister of Customs to go down to Fiji and look into things for himself, because he was satisfied we ought to encourage trade with Fiji, where there was ample room, and Fiji in a few years would be producing enormous quantities of sugar. Mr Harris said the former concession to the company amounted to £175,000. Now it was to be reduced to £140,000. It had been said that the company’s wages bill was only £75,000, but as a matter of fact it was £90,000. The company’s disability under competition amounted to £3 4s 10d per tori, and it was only to be assisted to the extent of,£2 6s Bd. Pertonally, he thought the Minister was to be

congratulated on the arrangement ho had been able to make with the company. Mr Holland declared that, Parliament was being put in a humiliating position by the company, which was so reprehensible that no dictionarial term could adequately describe it. The company had recently refined Java sugar at Chelsea, and sold it as New Zealand refined sugar without any intimation that it was Java sugar. If there were no objection to Java sugar coming in and being refined in New Zealand, could not the Government bring it in and refine it independently of the company? Personally, he did not approve of this, and if we could not get sugar from Fiji and were driven elsewhere, we ought to go to Australia for white crown sugar. We might have to pay mere for it, but we would know under what conditions it was grown. If the House decided to grant this concession to the company, then common sense dictated that the House should secure the people against the prices of sugar being raised, and that adequate supplies should be maintained. Ou the division Mr Fraser’s amendment was lost by 57 votes to 27. On the motion that the Bill be read a third time another division was called for, when the motion was carried by 38 votes to 26 (Mr Jordan changing to the aye?), and the Bill was read a third time and passed. The House rose at 10.47 p.m.