NEW AUSTRALIAN TARIFF.

Hokitika Guardian, 4 May 1920, Page 4

NEW AUSTRALIAN TARIFF.

FREETRADE V. PROTECTION ISSUE APPARENTLY DEAD.

SYDNEY, April 20. The new Australian tariff is really a great victory lor the protectionists. Hitherto the Commonwealth Government, in framing a tariff, has sat religiously upon the wall. The freetradeprotection issue was alive arid, full or kick, and dangerous for the aspiring politician to handle; so the Customs duties were always •‘revenue-producs ing” and not “protective.” But Labom is'essentially protectionist in its outlook ; and, in the years just before the war, as Labour sentiment and ideas became dominant, the freetrade cause was almost moribund. The complete revolution in trade brought about by the uai practically killed it, and now the new tariff gives it the coup de grace. High freights, scarce shipping, and the impossibility of immediately obtaining supplies from oversea, had ahead}' given Australian industries high protection, and a great number were established, and flourished, in the years 1917-20. These cried urgently for protection, and the Government listened also to an argument produced bv the war—namely, that it was essential, for the safety of the nation, that at least the great “key” manufacturing industries be established in Australia. Postwar developments have swept away the strong anti-protection arguments—that the cost of labour here plus the cost of shipping rendered it impracticable for us to manufacture for the foreign markets, and that it was therefore not worth our while to protect our manufacturing industries so that we might send most of our products away in the manufactured, instead of the raw condition. Not only have wages all over the world reached the Australian parity, but the establishment by Australia of a Com-monwealth-owned line of cargo-carriers appears to give promise of a sufficiency of shipping at reasonable rates. The post-war conditions, which amounted to protection, and the certainty that a protective tariff was coming, lias brought about already the establishment of many factories here by oversea firms, as well as new industries established by Australian capital. The former include Galvanised iron industry. John Lysaght and Co.; cocoa and confectionery factories, Cadbury’s; woollen mills, Kelsall and Kemp; shipbuilding yards and marine engineering, Vickers, Ltd., manufacture of sheep and cattle dips, Cooper’s, Ltd.; manufacture of turbines, Boving Company. And a score of others are promised. Favoured by the peculiar conditions of the times, the protectionists see their most rosy dreams coming true,, and a loud triumphant noise rises continuously

from their ranks. Even tlie doughtiestchampions of freetrader the “Argus” and tiic “Sydney Moriiing Herald” are now almost silent; their comments on the new tariff were “contained in a few sad words,” and premonitions of sorrow. - ,