THE WAIPUKURAU PRESS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 1935 EXCHANGE AND SALES TAX.

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXX, Issue 64, 20 March 1935, Page 4

THE WAIPUKURAU PRESS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 1935 EXCHANGE AND SALES TAX.

Increases in the retail prices of many articles of everyday necessity in New Zealand are attributed by the United Kingdom Manufacturers and New Zealand Representatives’ Association to the cumulative effect of the 25 per cent, exchange and the sales tax. In a statement issued a few days back the association declares that the time is overdue when the New Zealand Government should realise that the 25 per cent, artificial exchange acts as an extra duty, and that allowances for this should be made in the assessment of duties. It is contended that there is no reason why the Australian scheme, by which a reduction of a quarter of the duty ordinarily payable is made on the import of goods affected by protective tariff, should not be put into operation in New Zealand. A striking example of the extent to which the cost of imported goods is increased by.duty, exchange, and other charges, was quoted from the Australian and New Zealand Trade journal by the secretary of the Hastings Chamber of Commerce, Mr. F. Perrin, at a recent meeting of the Chamber. The f.o.b. cost of the goods in England, said Mr. Perrin, was £2356. Freight and landing charges amounted to £276. exchange and bank charges to £745, and duty to £697. The sales tax brought the total cost to the importer up to £5230. “This so-called five per cent, sales tax,” remarked Mr. Noel Wilson, “actually works out at anything from 9 to 15 per cent.”

A SHORTER WORKING WEEK.

The sympathetic approach of the Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association to the question of a forty-hour week is based on the knowledge that this advance must come sooner or later, observes the “Christchurch Star,” in a recent editorial. “But the committee hardly went deep enough in concluding merely that an increase of about 9 per cent, in the tariff would be necessary to give the worker the concession in hours. The subject was very ably dealt with by the Labour contributor to the “Star,” when he hinted that the introduction of the shift, system might be necessary. This would allow machinery and other fixed capital to be worked for a longer period, and the increased output would bear a lower cost per unit per head of overhead charges, thus compensating a little for the increased cost of labour. The difficulty is to safeguard the industries and the workers engaged in them against the product of countries with longer working hours, but there ought to be a way out, especially us the employers show that the elimination of Saturday morning work has meant an improvement in health and efficiency that can be measured in increased production in some cases.”