TARIFF ON WOOLLENS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19177, 17 November 1925, Page 12

TARIFF ON WOOLLENS.

INDUSTRY IN CANADA. BRITISH COMPETITION. LONG-STANDING (GRIEVANCE. [ FliOi£ OC?, OWS . CQ'RBSSPOKBEpr.} TORONTO, Oct. 17, On the platform Protectionist craters direct their gtrns chiefly against their next-door neighbour. The United States ia pictured, as the great economic enemy,, flooding Canada's markets with" -cheap goods and strangling local industries.- Itis, however, a curion.3 fact that - the isdistry which has the-strongest esse for .higher tariff : protection. "is ■ suffering not became of imports from the United States' but because of Imports, chiefly from ice British Isles. This Li the woollen indnstrv. There is no doußt that if a Conservative Government comes into powar, one 'of the first things it will do writ- he to raise the existing duties on woollen products. This, trill curtail trade, not with the United States, bat with Mother England.

The grievance of the Canadian woo lien manufacturers dates from 1837, 'When Sir Wilfrid Laurier first .introduce*! . the "British'preference," In a manifesto jjisfc issued by tße Canadian Woollen and Knit Goods Manufacturers' Association, it '& declared that the inauguration of the preference in 1891 resulted .in the cisaing of 83 Canadian mills. Farther increases in preference, some within the last swo or three years, have resulted in farther crippling the Canadian industry. Sheen .Flecks at Standstill.

One effect is observable ffi the sa«ej> industry. There are in Canada to-day only about 2.500.000 sheep,, practically "fccse sarn-e comber as in IBS 7. In Great Britain, thev maintain 24.000,000 sheep. New Zealand's Socks are of similar dimensions. Canada' produces only. 15,000,000 pounds a f wool, and woollen manufacturers declare that there la no-reason why we should not grow 'at least 50.000,£XXHfo. of. the TOXOO.CCOIb, of wool consumed annuallsv fcv the people 01 Canada, Thsj state that over £30.000,000 worth of textile products are imported into Canada every year. If these goods were made in Canada, there would oe work lor oO,OCG Canadian ' women. V - Advocates for the industry scoff at rW,™ thai • there are any climatic, physical or technical > reasons why- textiles cannot he rsade as succession Hy in Canada' as 'in England and' Scotland.

. Devastating competition cesses from' Great Britain, and the Coatiaeai whers, it is-; claimed, the rate of wages paid 13 only from one-quarter to one-half the rates of irages in Canada. A Comparison oi Wages. The manifesto already quoted, prints the following comparison of weekly wages:— ITcriicsliire. Canada.. .Dollars. Dollars, Winders - . •. - - 5.9-2 13—13 Twisters §.34 }z~}Spinaers - • • • • *•-'* ReeJera • • • • • * J.! f? DoSe rs =-22 U-fe Overlookers Warehouse si en _ - - - • 12- Jv 13 2. Blenders, carbonisers. io_t*\ labourers 12 - 06 Male help in gre~ room, stock rocm, packing tie- ' parimeat .... Firemen and greasers . . Continental Wages.—The average wages in sold paid to skilled textile worsts B Germany axe II cents an hour, or 5,72 collars for a S'2-nc-ar week. Figures indicating the tremendous sale, in Canada or woollen and knit goods made abrord. partlcatarlv since .the tariff redactions of 1922' and 1923. are quoted extensive!v. For example the imports from Great Britain of woollen and worsted cloth have been as follows Sq. yards. !&•>! 13.095,400 7<>Ta " 27,014.500 ifil 30,154.2a> Another grievance has to do with the French treaty which came into effect m September, 1925. Since 1522 imports ct woollen and knit goods from France have increased by 500 per cent. _ Previous to 1597 the dnties on woollen and knitted goods ranged from 25 to 35 per cent. Now there is.' no article that, has as high a protection as 2d per cent, under the British preference and several of the schedules show only 15 per cent. The reductions in 1922 and 1923 were only fractional. but- ■ according to t££ woollen men they were the last : straw on the camel's hack •