GERMANY'S TARIFFS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 156, 30 June 1914, Page 8

GERMANY'S TARIFFS

"POLICY OF EXCLUSION."

DUTY ON DOMINION PRODUCTS,

HIGH COMMISSIONER'S VIEWS.

[BY telegraph.—press ASSOCIATION'.] I CnnisTcnrncH, Monday. A private cablegram has been receive*! in Christchurck giving a verbatim report of that part of the High Commissioner's speech at the annual New Zealand dinner in London dealing with German competition. It is as follows.— " Were Germany to adopt a progressive policy such as that recently adopted by tho United States. m>- fellow-countrymen would look with a much more kindly eye on this must recent development. Unfortunately, Germany lias in force a policy of exclusion against us which has acted as a blight on all our efforts with that nation. This is neither the time nor place to discuss the influence of political parties in the German Empire. We can only deal with results. The system of tariffs adopted in Germany is in marked contrast to the. policy which the United States has extended to ns New Zealanders

" I will give you some of Germany's heavy traffic exclusion charge?. The duty :"ii Mir frozen meat entering Germany is | 35 nuiks per 100 kilos, i.r nearly 2d per I lb. I nlil recently a concession of 50 per cent, was made in the rase of meat im ported through municipalities and sold by them without profit, but even this concession is cancelled now. In the case c/ frown carcases, various organs such as the lungs, heart, kidney.-, must be attached in their natural position, arid in the case of cattle either (lie whole head or the under jaw must aU> he present—an entirely unnecessary provision so far as our excellent meat is concerned, The tariff on butter and cheese is as follows:— Fresh, salt, and melted, or margarine. 10s per cwt; butter in hermetically -scaled tins, etc., 30s per cwt. Cheese': Hard varieties Mich a.i New Zealand Cheddars (of not less than Mb each I, Gorgonzola, Fonlinn, and J'arnicsan, 7s per cwt; cheese of other varieties, including margarine cheese, 15s per cwt. "Fancy a country expecting to do much trade with us that charges up to 4d per lb on cheese of certain makes," said Mr. .McKenzie. "It must, however, j be remembered that some trade has been ; carried on between Germany and the Do- i million of New Zealand, Tho total ex- j port trade to Germany in 1912 was ' £254,000, whilst imports of German goods amounted to £653,000, an increase, over the preceding vear of £172,000. You will, [therefore see that we imported more than ; double the quantity from Germany than | we exported to her, and most of these articles were such as could have been produced by tho British manufacturer. Now 1 will 6how yon the difference in New Zealand trade with the United Kingdom in favour of New Zealand. Iu 1912, we exported nearly £17,000,000 worth of produce, and imported goods to the valuo of £12,500,000 from the. United Kingdom. It will be seen, therefore, that the United . Kingdom took £4,500,000 worth more j from lis than we imported from her, whilst Germany reversed the situation, and i I might say that the bulk of goods that, Germany imported from us was wool. '' Now, without desiring to press this ; mattor unduly, New Zealand cannot shut her eyes to the fact that if Germany does not take her products in return, but ex-1 peels New Zealand to buy her goods, we i shall be taking from a nation which bars . us, goods which could bo manufatured in , the United Kingdom, the workmen of ; which do gain access to our mutton, our . beef, our butter, and our cheese, and it is ' not stretching the point to say that for '. j absolute value the British article is in- ! trinsically better than the Gorman. Trade done with Germany'in the past amounts •-> 12s per head of the population of New Zealand, whilst that done with Great Britain amounts to nearly £30 per head of. the population of the Dominion, and it must irratify you to know that we imnort from Groat Britain manufactured articles amounting to no less than £12 per head of the population." j