TYRE INDUSTRY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23058, 8 June 1938, Page 14

TYRE INDUSTRY

DOMINION PROPOSAL QUESTIONS BY IMPORTERS MANY POINTS AT ISSUE With a cablegram from the Reciprocal Trade Federation of the United Kingdom stated to indicate clearly the grave concern of the English manufacturers and workers on the suggestion, the proposal to establish a tyre industry in New Zealanfl is subjected to further scrutiny in a statement issued by the Bureau of Importers. It has been decided to communicate with the Minister of Industries and Commerce, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, and ask a number of questions arising principally from his recent statement on the subject. The Minister is being asked whether it is not true that those who applied for a permit to manufacture rubber tvres in the Dominion stated that they would not erect a iactory or factories in Christchurch unless they had complete protection from competition outside New Zealand. Ho is also asked if it was not true that the Government promised complete protection by one or all of the following methods: — Prohibitory duties, prohibition of imports, application of a quota or permit system which would result 'in importations being shut or any other method .which would bring about the same result.

The statement asks that if these questions were satisfactorily answered would the Minister agree to the appointment of a lioyal Commission to inquire into the nature of the negotiations and to consult the consuming public, the farming community, whose products had to be sold overseas, and those who were at present engaged in the importation and distribution of rubber tyres in the Dominion. "We are also advising the Minister that a large number of replies have been received in the secret ballot which is now being conducted by the bureau among the importers and distributors of rubber tyres in the Dominion," the statement adds. "We intend to analyse the results and make the information available to the Minister and to the public at an early date."