ALLEGED DUMPING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18946, 18 February 1925, Page 13

ALLEGED DUMPING.

AN AUSTRALIAN COMPLAINT. APPEAL TO TARIFF BOARD. Increased protective duties were asked for recently by witnesses who appeared before the Australian Tariff Board at Melbourne on behalf of the engineering industry and the socks and stockings manufacturers. Mr. E. P. Lewis, of the engineering firm of Kelly and Lewis, said that before his firm undertook the manufacture of air compressors, American machines were being sold in Australia at a considerably higher price than to-day. There should be some modification of the tariff to enable the Australian industry to meet such competition. One American firm was selling a certain .type of machine in Australia at landed cost, relying upon the profits made in America to finance the campaign against Australian manufacturers. His conclusion from figures ho had received from America was that the American manufacturers were exporting at a lower price than their home price. Mr. B. G. Bell, engineer, representing an American engineering firm, challenged the figures quoted by Mr. Lewis. There was no truth, added Mr. Bell, in the statement that his firm was underquoting or undercutting the Australian price to bring their machinery to Australia. The protection, exchange, and landing charges amounted to 80 per cent, of the price. Evidence in support of an increased tariff on imported stockings and socks was given by Mr. W. L, Hicks, chairman of the Victorian Hosiery and Underwear Association, who said that higher duties were required to ...save from extinction an industry which was worth preserving, to preserve intact the huge amount of capital—£4,ooo,ooo—invested in the industry, and to assure employment to 6000 employees. " We are out to stop the importations of shoddy goods," said Mr. R. N. McLean, director of George A. Bond, Ltd., Sydney. Mr. McLean said that his firm was endeavouring to develop mass production. To introduce lines, it had sold thousands of dozens without profit, *« -\Ve have frequently been requested bv Flinders Lane firms to leave off the brand ' Made in Australia,' said Mr. j, G. Hare, managing director of the Dominion Knitting Mills. He added that there was a distinct prejudice against Australian goods.