TRADE WITH CANADA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20721, 14 November 1930, Page 10

TRADE WITH CANADA.

The extraordinary character of the customs law in Canada and of the methods of administration are again illustrated by the imposition of a dumping duty on Australian butter. There is a trade agreej meat in force between the Common- | wealth and the Dominion, under | which the duty on butter is one cent | per 11>., as against the new tax of eight cents on other butter of British origin, which in practice means New Zealand butter. But under the general customs law, there is power to impose a dumping duty, up to 50 per cent, of the value of the goods, according to the amendment in .September, but, as a concession to the spirit of the agreement, limited to the former maximum of 15 per cent, in the case of importations from Australia. Consequently. even at the present price of butter, it has been possible to raise the duty to 6.1 cents, no doubt on the ground that though Australian butter is sold for export at the world's market quotation, the domestic price is higher, owing to the Paterson scheme. There are misgivings in Canada regarding this countervailing taxation. When the tariff was under discussion in the House of Commons in September, the Minister of Trade and Commerce himself commented on the anomaly of negotiating a trade agreement, granting a preference, and, when the first shipment of butter arrived, clapping on a dumping duty of six cents. In Mr. Stevens' opinion, that was unfair and destructive of goodwill and friendliness. Yet what was done under the authority of the previous Administration, which concluded the agreement, is being continued under the present Government. The point is of supreme importance in view of the New Zealand Government's avowed intention of negotiating for an independent agreement with Canada. Nothing has been heard, since the Prime Minister's departure, of any progress having been made by either his personal conversations with Mr. Bennett cr by conferences between the Comptroller of Customs and the Canadian officials. However, if the results of the Imperial Conference are disappointing, there will bo the greater reason for striving for an advantageous agreement with (anada. Australia's experience has proved the necessity for rigid exclusion of anything in the nature ot a dumping duty. Lnless Canada is prepared to adhere to rates of duty specified in the agreement, waiving all powers of multiplying them on any pretext whatever, it would be better to abandon the negotiations. Tn his turn, Mr. Forbes would have to give a similar pledge, for his Government has, in at, least one instance, resorted to this pernicious device foi; the manipulation of the tariff. Its association with reciprocal tariff agreements is both inconsistent and intolerable.