AUSTRALIAN TARIFFS

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 March 1926, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN TARIFFS

AID TO INDUSTRY. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.) MELBOURNE, March 3. In the House of Representatives, Mr Pratten (Customs Minister), in a debate on the new tariff duties validating Act, which was passed last September, authorising the collection of the new duties for one year, said that it was the earnest desire of the Government to see that the further development of Australia’s secondary industries should not be hampered. Six months had elapsed since the new duties were first collected, and very considerable progress had been made in the industries affected. The new tariff had revived the whole textile industry. It had been giving fresh hope all round, and the Government’s action had been fully justified, through a large amount of additional employment having been found. The further projected new duties had also stopped the closing down of many important engineering establishments, thus enabling that industry to undertake now a. much greater proportion of the work required in Australia than previously. If Parliament confirmed the new duties, he believed that within a year, further textile factories would be established in the Commonwealth by at least three of the leading British manufacturers. lie concluded by suggesting that the migration of industry should be linked with the migration of people.