IMPORTED ONIONS.

Franklin Times, Volume XXI, Issue 127, 2 November 1931, Page 5

IMPORTED ONIONS.

REQUEST FOR HIGHER DUTY.

GROWERS MEET THE MINISTER

MR PARVIN STATES THE CASE

A deputation representing the Canterbury and: the Franklin Onion Growers’ Associations waited upon the Hon. Downie Stewart, Minister of Customs, regarding duty on onions. The deputation consisted of Messrs .T. N. Massey and R. W. Hawke, M’s.P., Messrs Goode and Blackburn, representing tin 1 Canterbury growers, and Mr G. T. Parvin, representing the Franklin growers. Apologies for absence were received from the Hon. D. JOnes and £lr H. S. Kyle, M.P. Mr Hawke introduced the deputation and stressed the difficulties the onion growers were up against owing to the importation of onions from Australia. Some of these onions were being bought" .in Australia at £1 5s to £1 15s per tony.a figure which did not represent the actual labour cost of producing them, without taking into consideration the question of seed, or use of land, etc. ' He urged the Minister to give;, sympathetic consideration to the New Zealand producers’ requests.

The Position Outlined. Mr Parvin was called upon to state the case for the deputation. . He thanked the Minister for the privilege of being given the opportunity to place the matter before him. It was a matter which very materially affected the well-being of the whole of Abe. onion growers of the Dominion and it was a matter of general interest to. the whole community. The growers were not unmindful of the consideration shown to the producers in 1929 by Mr Forbes he granted .the. growers protection against foreign onions to the extent of £1 10s per ton, and he felt sure that, after the. case had been put for the onion growers’ associations at the present time, similar sympathetic consideration would be given to them in regard to the importation of Aus-tralian-''onions: ■ In the first place he would like to place before the Minister the. actual figures relative to the position, which were as follow: Imports.

1931 Extra three months to June 30 Australia . . 1025. £3,842 Mr, Parvin added that since the duty has Been put on foreign importations of onions, excepting Australian, importations of Australian onions have increased from 185 tons, value £1,704 in 1929 to 2,197 tons, value £12,215 in 1931. Add to this the imports for the three months ended June 30, 1931, of 1025 tons, value £3,842 makes an importation of 3,222 tons at a value of £1(5,050 for the 15 months. It would he seen lhat foreign importations, excluding Australian, have fallen from 2716 tons, v value £26,976 in 1929 to 1230 tons, ■value £12,097 in 1931, while, for three months ended June 30, no foreign importations took place. Exports.

Since 1929, our exports have fallen from 2,622 tons, value £21.554 to 277 tons value £1,511 in 1931; showing a decline in tonnage of 2,34 5 and in value £20,043; all of which has Been a serious loss to the growers and lo the Dominion, said Mr Parvin. Australia, which took onions to the value of £10,173 in 1929. since then has taken none up to the present time, while she has dumped, during the past • fifteen months ended June 30. 1931, 3.222 tons valued at. £16,056. The whole of this amount, pine foreign importations amounting to £12.097, the loss of our export trade of a value of £21,554 in 1929, and which is now reduced to 277 tons, value £1.51:1 in 1931, represented a loss in revenue lo the growers of no less than £ i 8,196. Added to this would he the loss in railway freights, which would he considerable, because the unions from oversea are sent direct to tin 1 several ports by steamer and afforded very little, if any, revenue to the railways by way of freight, which would be earned if all the onions required were grown locally. ° Position To-day. The position to-day, he said, was that the merchants were importing An s trail an and Canadian onions on a forward delivery basis. Canadian onions were selling at 20/- per 100 tbs and Australian a little below that

As Good as Imported Article. figure, and yet we had very considerable quantities of locally grown onions in the Dominion, principally in the Canterbury and Franklin County districts, which were equally as good as the best imported article, for which it was difficult to get even £l4 per ton (14/- per cwt). This position was not difficult to understand. The merchants would not handle locally grown onions at any price at all while their financial commitments through foreign importations were tying their hands. Consequently, the market for local onions was restricted to the hands of a few. The result was that the consumer was paying the piper through the action of the merchants to the extent of £6 to £8 per ton. How long this state of things was going to continue, one did not know; but it did call for some definite action for protection against this exploitation for the benefit of the public as well as the grower.

“In 1929 growers had lo plough in acres of onions, as they were not worth harvesting owing to the glut of foreign and Australian onions on the market, and as our export trade was gone and as the importations of on-

ions from Australia and Canada are increasing the growers’ outlook for the . coming season does not seem to be pleasant,” declared Mr Parvin. The major part of the work in cropping. onions was done by the Maoris, and this winter . they had passed through a very trying time owing to the lack of work caused by the above conditions, and as a member of the Auckland Hospital Board he had had to give these natives relief to the extent of several hundreds of .pounds. What... the association requires is a duty on Australian onions of £2 10s to £3 per ton,, when the, selling price is below £8 per ion, added Mr Parvin. Over that price, the duty would gradually decline. An actual embargo would be preferred on onions to operate from February to July. This, under the circumstances, was, he felt, quite a reasonable request. In

times like .these, when money had to be found- for assisting unemployment, if seemed foolish to send money out of Ibis country to oilier countries for onions which could be produced at least equally as well, and more cheaply than they could be imported for. “The large amount of money represented by the. onion import trade, he., £28,183 would, surely, be far better employed in providing work and wages for our own people 'than in doing the same for others while ours go without. Reasonable protection would enable us to keep that large amount of money here,” continued Mr Parvin. Matter of Grave Moment. Mr Parvin urged the Minister to give the matter his urgent and sympathetic consideration, as it was one of grave moment to the onion producers of the Dominion, who, at the present time, owing to the low price of early potatoes, were facing undue anxiety with regard to future prospects. An average crop of onions would be 14 tons to the acre. Taking the tonnage imported, 4,452 tons, which meant an acreage of 318, costing for labour alone £4O per acre, there would be no less than £12,720 more distributed in wages in the Dominion than there was at the present time, if these onions were grown here. The Hon. W> Downie Stewart asked why protection was necessary as it would mean increased prices to the consumer, which must be obvi ted. Mr Parvin stated that, as a matter of fact, on present, prices the consumer would be paying less by using local onions, even if the protection were granted, as the difference between the local price and that for the imported onion, was between £6 to £8 per ton. That difference did not go into the pocket, of either the local consumer, or the oversea grower; but into that of the merchants, who were apparently exploiting the public for their own benefit.

Mr Goode was the next speaker.- Ho spoke on similar lines to Mr Parvin and said that the views expressed represented those of his association. Whatever the price of onions was, it did not seem to affect the retail price [hi less protection was given, he saw a very serious position for the onion growers of the Dominion.

Mr Massey Supports Request. \ Mr Massey spoke in support, of tin* deputation's requests and urged die Minister to give sympathetic consideration to their appeal. lie suggested that as 1 lie Government had made provision for protection against the dumping of bran and pollard and had given the wheat, growers adequate protection, the onion growers should be given the same consideration. The imlusiry would tic satisfied if the growers could be guaranteed a fair price.

In reply Ihe Minister said that the Beciprocal Tariff with Australia required six months’ notice of aiferalion. Under il flic butter industry had benefited when Ausiralia purposed putting duly on New Zealand butler. Many other industries had recently asked for protection and it seemed that no New Zealand produo! could stand on iis own feel. The. people generally were restive and I here was a general demand for tariff decreases. There were two sides lo evrey question and both must lie thoroughly investigated. Tie would go fully into the matter and let the associations know Ids decision at an early date.

192 9 . Tons Value Canada 422 £4697 Australia 185 1704 Japan 455 4368 U.S.A. . 1839 -17,911 Total . 2901 £28,680 1930 Canada 388 £4009 Australia . 1617. 9655 Japan „ 905 8716 _ Total . 2910 £22,380 '1931 Canada 387 £3,986 Australia . 2197 12,214 U.S.A. . . 843 8,111 Total . . . 3427 £24,311

1929 Tons Value Australia 1312 £10,173 1930 .. .. 1931 . , .. Three months to June 30th. 1931 .. .. Canada 1929 .. .. 330 £00-10 1930 .. .. 182 803 1931 .. .. 71 329