DUTY ON WOOLLENS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20303, 10 July 1929, Page 11

DUTY ON WOOLLENS.

BOARD OF TRADE INQUIRY.

NO ACTION TO BE TAKEN

Australian Press Association—United Service

(Received July 0, 9.25 p.m.)

LONDON. July 8

The Hoard of Trade Committee which heard the application by the textile industry for a safeguarding duly on woollens has reported in favour of a duty. The report says: "We arc satisfied that foreign women's dress goods are being imported into the United Kingdom in abnormal quantities and are offered for sale at prices below those at which similar goods can profitably be manufactured in the United Kingdom, thus seriously affecting employment. "The committee, however, thinks that the duty should be graduated according to a suitable scale, rising from 6d a case for the cheapest garments, of which the import value is 10s or under, to a maximum of 3s 6d a case for garments valued at £4. The above scale should be equally applicable to men's wear.'* The Prime Minister, Mr. Ramsay MacDonald, stated in the House of Commons on July 2 that the Government had come into possession of a. report on the wool 'industry which it would publish, but not

put into operation. in Ministerial circles it is consideied that the committee's recommendation is too vague and unqualified to justify action being taken on it. Leading industrialists express the opinion that the rejection of the report means a cut in wages.

Xlr. Sydney Illingworth, chairman of the Joint Safeguarding Committee of the Employers and Operatives, said that even a .duty of 15 per cent, would not be sufficiently high. Since nothing was to replace safeguarding the industry would continue to suffer and the workers would continue to be unemployed. Mr. Walt er .Andrews, ex-president of the British Wool Federation, said that any duty below 25 per cent, would not really have been effective. Mr. Arthur Shaw, secretary of the National Association of Textile Unions, expressed the opinion that a duty of 15 per cent, would enable the manufacturers to get within a measurable distance of foreign competition.