TARIFF RATES

Southland Times, Issue 22350, 15 June 1934, Page 8

TARIFF RATES

PUBLIC RESOLUTIONS STATEMENT BY MR COATES “EXTRAVAGANT MISSTATEMENTS” (Per United Press Association.) Wellington, June 14. The Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates made the following statement to-day: Readers of newspapers have recently had the privilege of reading, and members of the Ministry are regularly having forwarded to them, resolutions adopted by public meetings “demanding the fulfilment of New Zealand’s obligations under the Ottawa Agreement.” These resolutions are more or less impressive in their uniformity and bear the stamp of a master mind, and there is little doubt that the months ahead will see the persistence of propaganda. At the same time the country shows signs of being inundated by tracts and reprints, also from an interested source, which seek to prejudice in the public mind the case for any tariff revision and to lead readers to feel that any such revision, however carefully it may have been considered, will spell black ruin for the Dominion and its industries. In a sense, these two forms of public instruction and entertainment may perhaps best be left to cancel out or balance each other. Allowing for exaggerations on either side, the public can be trusted to draw their own conclusions. They are not likely to be unduly influenced by extravagant mis-statements from whatever source these may come and however attractively they may be presented. “However, I feel that a word of warning is necessary,” continued the Minister, “and at the moment I refer particularly to some remarks ascribed to Mr Albert Russell. Mr Russell is a well-known entertainer and everyone appreciates the commendable public spirit he has shown, but this is not to say his is the last word on the trade relations between Great Britain and New Zealand, nor on a more limited issue of our fulfilment of the terms of the Ottawa Agreement. Mr Russell is reported to have said New Zealand is not ‘playing the game’ under the Ottawa Agreement; that we have ‘fallen down by 4 not carrying out our undertakings’ and that until Parliament dealt with the Tariff Commission’s report, there would be years of delay without doing anything.’ All these assertions are untrue. They are pernicious to the extent that they are circulated in falsely stating the position as between New Zealand and Britain. It is true there was delay in commencing the inquiry into our tariff, but why did this delay occur? It was specifically requested by the British Government so that their manufacturers could have the opportunity of preparing their case. Apart from this general tariff review, the alteration of specific tariff items and the removal of surtax from the United Kingdom goods were carried through without the loss of a single day after we were able, by arrangement with the British Government, to make known the terms of the agreement. In face of this plain fact, how can anyone say ‘nothing has been done’ by New Zealand? Machine-made resolutions are pretty well valueless at any time. When they are based on false information given to the public, their value is still less, but still one learns to accept more or less philosophically the fact that such resolutions will be adopted without demur by good-natured audiences that face , the speakers and once a campaign is started, we may expect to see a repetition of the necessary formula over and over again.”