AMERICAN MOTORS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3255, 2 August 1916, Page 47

AMERICAN MOTORS.

INDIGNANT LEGISLATORS

Mr Pearco asked tho Prime Minister on July 25 whether his attention had been drawn to tho arrival hero of the steamer Florence Luckonbach, apparently a German name, with 320 automobiles for discharge in Wellington. Mr Wilford: There are 19,000 tons of space filled with motor cars.

Mr Pearce asked ■whether the. Government would impose a customs duty of at> least 100 per cent, on these German motor cars. A Voice: American motor cars.

Mr Pearce: I say German motor cars advisedly, because some of the motor cars—the Studebaker, for instance—arc made by German firms in America. The English Government had drawn up a black list of firms in America, and he. asked whether the Now Zealand Government was doing anything of the sort.. Mr Massey: I am sorry the hon. gentleman did not see me with regard to thia matter before asking the question in the House. I can only say that the matter is being very closely investigated, and that the New Zealand Government intends to see that the British people are not pre T judiced in the way the question suggests. I cannot give any details now, but I hope within a few days to mako a statement on the subject. If I can't do it one of my colleagues will.

Mr S. R. Stedman, who is the local agent for the Studebaker cars, reference to which was mado in the House- on the 26th inst. by Mr Pearce, M.P., informs us that the, Studebaker firm is not German, but American. Mr J. M. Studebaker, one of tha founders of the Studebaker business, and chairman of the Studebaker Corporation, if of Dutch descent. His Dutch ancestor* migrated to America from Holland lSChycarC ago, and the Studebaker business has beei* established in America for 61 years. Tha Studebaker Corporation subscribed one million dollars to tho Allies' war loan in America recently, and they are contractors to the British, "Russian, and French War Offices. Great .Britain's purchases of Studebaker manufactures during the present war have aggregated four million pounds sterling. The Russian Government has ordered 1000 Studebaker cars and the French Government has made enormous purchases of Studebaker goods. The firm were contractors to Great Britain for Studebaker wagons during the South African war. Mr Massey (Prime Minister) has been informed of the foregoing facts, and it is only due to tho agents in New Zealand that the statements made in the House, which are now widely known to tho public, should be as widely refuted.