AUSTRALIAN GOODS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22030, 9 February 1935, Page 11

AUSTRALIAN GOODS

HIGHER TARIFF ADVOCATED PREFERENCE FOR BRITAIN [by telegraph—own correspondent! WELLINGTON, Friday A suggestion that, in future trade negotiations with Australia, the New Zealand Government should adopt the principle of on imports from the Commonwealth a scale of duties higher than that imposed on corresponding imports from the United, Kingdom, was made to-day to the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, and other Ministers, by a deputation from the New Zealand Manufacturers' Federation.

The deputation pointed out in a memorandum that the scale of duties on British goods had been recently adjusted to comply with Article 8 of the Ottawa hut the Dominion was under no obligation to place the Australian manufacturer also "in the position of a domestic competitor." "If the Government endorses this view," the memorandum continued, "we further submit that the tariff on Australian goods should be suoh as will enable the New Zealand industry to 'under-sell' the imported article in this market. "The federation also adheres to the belief that New Zealand, while giving first preference to New Zealand goods, should give her second preference decidedly to Great Britain. It appears, however, that, as between Australia and Great Britain, the former country now enjoys a distinct advantage in this market on account: of freight and exchange." It was suggested that the tariff on Australian manufactured goods should be, in general, 15 per cent higher than the tariff on corresponding goods imported from Great Britain, and that primage duties on imports from the United Kingdom should be abolished.