CUSTOMS RECIPROCITY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18687, 17 October 1922, Page 6

CUSTOMS RECIPROCITY

THE AUSTRALIAN NEGOTIATIONS. OATS AND DRIED FRUITS. MATTER IN ABEYANCE. (FhOm Oue Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, October 16. £he negotiations between New Zealand ana Australia regarding the Customs duties on oats and dried fruits have broken down, according to a statement made in the House of Representatives to-night by the Minister of Customs (the Hon. vv. Downio Stewart), ’me two countries, ho said, did not agree to the forms, and eventually a deadlock was readied. The question may he reopened again later. The position had not been stated quite accurately in the cablegrams from Melbourne, said the Minister. He had been trying during the negotiations to get New Zealand oats into Australia on a lower duty than the present Is 6d per cental, without lowering the similar dutw charged on Australian oats coming into New Zealand. The producers of oats in some of the southern districts of New Zealand feared Australian competition in the North Island if the duty wore lowered. Ho had not been successful in making the arrangement that he had in mind. The Australian authorities had to consider the growers in their own country, and they would consent (only (o a reduction of the duty to Is a cental, and then on condition that New Zealand made a corresponding reduction. He could not consent to that, and a deadlock was reached. The concession that the Australians were prepared to make did not seem to bo worth while. The reduction from Is 6d to is per cental represented about 3d per bushel. The Australian authorities had been handicapped in their discussion of the oats question, Mr Stewart continued, by the fact that they could not act without the sanction of the Federal Parliament, which was rising last Saturday. They could not spend much time, therefore, in th© discussion. They had asked, in return for the slight reduction in the duty on oats, that New Zealand should give them an advantage in the matter of dried fruits. These fruits entered New Zealand free of duty. At the present lime the Australians wanted New Zealand to put a duty on fruits from the United States and the Mediterranean countries to us, _ giving the Australian growers of dried fruits a substantial advantage. He had felt that New Zealand would not gain much from such an arrangement, and his colleagues had agreed with him that from the point of view of this dominion the bargain was not worth making. He had loft the matter over. Perhaps something more could bo done next year. The Australians had not proposed that the items should come into force until next year anyway, so there would not be much time lost if eventually they came to terms. The whole matter was now in abeyance. Mr A. S. Malcolm (Clulha) asked if the Minisior had consulted the farmers unions regarding these reciprocal arrangements. He knew that the Otago unions would like opportunity to express their views through their secretary, Mr Hugh Mitchell, in Dunedin. He hoped indeed that they would send their views along without waiting to he asked

Tho Hon. W. Downio Stewart replied that he would have been very glad if the farmers had made their opinions better known to him before ho went to Australia. Part cf this trouble had , been that full representations had not been made to him before he wont to Australia. Idle only representations that had reached him had been from people who did not want tho duty touched because they were afraid of Australian competition.