FOREIGN GOODS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16566, 2 June 1914, Page 3

FOREIGN GOODS.

TO THE EDITOR. Si rj —At the conference of the Furniture Makers’ Union of Workers it was decided to demand increased tariff duties upon imported goods as a remedy for the shrinking demand for local j manufactures. This letter is particui l ar ly intended for the perusal of our friend, Mr D. G. Sullivan, a young man of great promise, who is unfortunately lost” in the fogs of protection. An increased duty upon imported furniture • is worthless as a remedy for unemployment. It cannot increase the demand for labour because no law can coerce the consumer to purchase the local product. All that the duty does is to increase tlio prico of tho imported ar- ; tide, and tho employers are enabled to ,-aiso the prico of local goods by the ! amount of the duty levied. It is a notorious fact that the manufacturers push imported goods in preference to i the local article. No matter what duty is imposed importations will continue. | The employers will annex the duty and ! import in greater quantities. No tariff dutv 'can prevent the manufacturers from closing their factories and becom- . ing importers instead. I Th o history ot tariff legislation proves tho difficulty of removing such duties whon once imposed, even when considered obsolete, because the working ®lacs who arc plundered by these duties are apathetic and mentally slothful, and in consequence have no influence with Parliament or the Government. The effect of the duty is to increase the cost of producing the local article, and this also handicaps the local industry Tho remedy is to make raw ma+«ri'nl cheap, and to adopt more up-to-STAS- .of maruteiure. Th„ whole trouble is merely a phase of the problem of unemployment the fact being that the workers employed in the , Industry are as a rule landless men un- : Able to employ themselves because of land monopoly. They are dependent 1 \ n fp\v capitalists for a minimum X® and no scheme that does not go r Hi’ voo t of tho evil is of any use 10 solvent. Protective tariffs are a f V L, for monopolies. Tlio true forcing liberate all industry from R° i oirlps of taxation, and to tax , the instead.-! am, etc., land ralues R w . nuRK E.