PROTECTING INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19458, 14 October 1926, Page 12

PROTECTING INDUSTRY.

USE OF CUSTOMS TARIFF. MINISTER FAVOURS BOARD. GROWING TRADE OF CANADA. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] CHRISTCHURCH. Wednesday. . That it was better for a country to have its tariff list revised completely, at stated periods and not have small alterations made now and again to the embarrassment of v importers, was urged by the acting-Prime Minister, Hon. W. Downie Stewart, at the annual conference of the Industrial Corporation of New Zealand this morning. Mr. Stewart expressed regret at the unavoidable absence of the new Minister of - Industries and Commerce, Hon. A. D. McLeod, who, ho said, had the interests of the manufacturing industries at heart and could be relied upon when the new tariff list came up to remedy any anomaly in the relationship between the primary and secondary industries. It was true, he said, that in recent years a share of the Empire trade had been lost by Britain, notwithstanding the increased preference. This could be accounted for to some extent by extra manufacturers being established in other places. Most of the trade Britain had lost in New Zealand was going to Canada and the United States. Canada Creates Problems. Canada was very heavily capitalised by American industry. and was used as an assembling ground to get the benefit of British preference. Canada was giving rise to many problems, for that country was developing its manufacturing trade and ceasing to deal with Britain. New Zealand had managed to export a considerable amount of butter and cheese to Canada, but he thought this would be a decreasing quantity, for the recent in-, stallation of cold storage in the west of Canada pointed to this. The Customs tariff was imposed in the early days for revenue purposes. It first became distinctively protective in 1888 and still more 'so in 1895, when substantial protection was granted. The revision of 1907 carried the protection still further, as did also the revision of 1821. One feature of the last revision, apart from the question of raising duties, was the matter of the-remission of duties on raw materials and machinery for New Zealand industries. C*vi> was taken that what were known as the parasitic industries did not receive help. The Need for Care. Regarding protection, the utmost care, must be taken .to see that the industries protected were suitable ones. The mere raising of duties : wl}ere the industry was not suitable produced no increase in output and put a burden on the consuming public. America had enormous duties on high grade cutlery, t textiles and clothing and yet British goods poured into the country, Tiio reason to bo drawn from this was that England was more efficient in those particular industries. The present tendency in America was to reduce those duties. Mr. Stewart said he favoured for next year a tariff board, with a personnel the same as in 1921 and the addition of a representative of the Department of Industries and Commerce. With the tariff list the speaker's policy had been to nibble where opportunity occurred. He had obeyed what he believed to be the feeling of the countiy in having put recently a duty on American motor-cars to give the. motor body builder in New Zealand a chance. Mr. Stewart was thanked for his address. Several members said the actmgPrimo Minister had done more for industry and was worthy of more confidence than any other Minister who had been in office. ATTITUDE OF THE MINISTER. CAREFUL INVESTIGATION NEEDED Reference to the attitude he intends to adopt in the administration of the portfolio of Industries and Commerce was made by the Hon. A. D. McLeod in a speech at Papakura last evening. The Minister said he had taken over the portfolio only during the last session and was not yet fully acquainted with it. Owing to pressure of business he had not yet been able to give it the attention he desired. Pie was fully alive to the fact that more than one industry in the country was working under extreme difficulty, the same as were hundreds of farmers. If it could be shown after the fullest investigation that the secondary industries of New Zealand were capable of employing sufficient labour at a living wage, without raising the price of their productions, 'there would be nobody more willing than ho to assist them. If, on the other hand, by sheltering behind tariff walls gain was to be assimilated by the man who invested his capital, and the price of a hundred and one articles necessary to the primary producer were raised, there was going to be serious trouble. It was realised that New Zealand could nevor hope to become great on her primary industries alone, and if it was going to assume a place in the forefront of trade in the Pacific, primary and secondary industries would have to be developed side by side. If it could bo shown that secondary industries were suffering because of cheaply-laboured material being dumped into the country reasonable protection was war) anted. The whole question would have to be gone into in a business-like manner, and he intended :k have investigations carried out in the near future.