NATIONAL ECONOMY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20595, 20 June 1930, Page 13

NATIONAL ECONOMY.

REVISING THE TARIFF.

SUMPTUARY LEGISLATION. LESSONS OF THE PAST. A plain hint having been given that the Government is looking to the customs tariff as a ready means of making good a part of the anticipated deficit in the national accounts, it is being urged in commercial quarters that the extra levy, if necessary, should be placel on luxuries. In view of the plea being made for the encouragement of New Zealand's own secondary industries, it is possible the Government might consider making the duties on some imports so high that the new schedule would have the effect of straight-out sumptuary laws. Only this week the President of the United States has signed the Tariff Bill, which provides for many increases in rates. New Zealand exports which sqem likely to be adversely affected by the changes are dairy produce, woo!, hides, meat and flax. As a result, the New Zealand Government must take serious stock of the trade position with the United States, particularly in view of the large adverse balance which already exists. In reviewing the position, attention might be paid to the invoking of sumptuary laws against commodities which might well be manufactured locally, or can at least bo imported from an Empire country at no greater cost. History o 1 the Legislation. Sumptuary legislation has an interesting history. Such laws were first introduced in Ancient Greece to prevent extravagance in banquets, dress and private expenditure. Tho laws even went to prohibition limits. All the inhabitants of Laconia, for instance, were forbidden to attend drinking entertainments or to possess a house or furniture which was tho work of implements more elaborate than axe and saw. In Rome, too, the system of sumptuary edicts and enactments was largely developed. Such legislation might bo dictated by political, economic or moral considerations. In comparatively modern times there have been numerous examples of sumptuary legislation in Great Britain, France, Italy and other European States. A Scottish sumptuary law of 1621 was the last of the kind in Great Britain. In Japan sumptuary laws have been passed with a frequency and minuteness of scope such as has had no parallel in the history of the Western world. At the beginning of the eleventh century an Imperial edict was issued, regulating the size of a house, and even imposing restrictions as to tho materials of which it was to be composed. But it was during the Tokugawa period that sumptuary laws and regulations were passed in the most bewildering profusion. Every detail of a man's life was .regulated down to the least particular—from the 'wearing of a beard or to the dressing of tho hair down to the cost of his wife's hairpins or his child's doll. Scope in New Zealand. Sumptuary laws have not gone so far in New Zealand. The ban on the importation of opium is one example of sumptuary legislation. By an extension of meaning a sumptuary law may be made to refer to legislation imposing a particularly high tariff on a particular commodity. For instance, the duty on spirits may be so regarded in a loose sort of sense. For some time it has been argued that the Government should prohibit the importation of foreign motor-cars in assembled form. Should such an edict be applied to cars of American origin, that would provide a literal example the working of sumptuary legislation. Scope for such a proceeding might also be in time provided by imposing a ban on the importation of American typewriters. British manufacturers of typewriters have recently strongly urged that the Empire overseas should show practical patriotism by buying British goods, all other considerations being equal, and in this particular field there appears to be no apparent reason why New Zealand business houses should not adopt the slogan of " Buy British and bo proud of it."