REVISION OF PRIMAGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22240, 15 October 1935, Page 5

REVISION OF PRIMAGE

AUSTRALIA'S, ACTION POSITION IN NEW ZEALAND The New Zealand Manufacturers' Federation has received information) that the Australian Government on Sep-' tember 26 abolished primage duty on a long list of goods imported into Australia from the United Kingdom. Proviouslj' primage had been charged at' rates ranging from 5 to 10 per cent. in referring to this matter in Wellington Mr. A. E. Mandor, secretary of! the federation,/ stated that in NewZealand primage is charged only on imports which are duty-free under the tariff. "The New Zealand Manufacturers' Federation has repeatedly urged the Government to abolish primage, at least on commodities imported from Great Britain," he said. "Indeed, it is explicitly provided in the Ottawa Agreement that this shall bo doneas 7 soon as practicable." Evidently, from the Budget staled ment, the New Zealand Government did not feel that financial conditions in this Dominion were yet such as would permit this article of the Agreement to be carried out and no provision had been made for it in the Budget; said iMr. Mander. Nevertheless, the Government of New Zealand was committed to this step at the earliest possible moment and with improving finance it was most unlikely that it could b$ delayed much longer. " v >