RIVAL MOTOR INTERESTS

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16712, 30 January 1926, Page 6

RIVAL MOTOR INTERESTS

ASSEMBLY OF CARS. DEPUTATION TO PREMIER. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Friday. ' Since it became known that the purchasers of 5J acres of Crown land at Petone were the firm of General Motors (N.Z.J, Ltd., and that the intention of the. company was to carry on car assembly work, some sections of the motor trade, particularly the body building trade of (he Dominion, had been very much concerned. This morning a large depulnlion representing the body builders of New Zealand waited on the Prime Minister and the Minister of Customs, Hon. Downie Stewart. In short, the suggestions which were put forward were, that unassembled bodies be assessed as motor bodies, the strict enforcement of preferential rates and conditions, the stipulation that every three completed cars or bodies assembled or unassembled be accompanied by one chassis, the necessity for the enforcement of legislation passed for the suppressed of trusts and combines in the interests of secondary industries, the protection of the legitimate British manufacturer against the use now being made of Canada by American importers lo defeat British preference. Hon. Downie Stewart replied that other organisations had claimed the right to be heard before the final decision was come to. He had the assurance of the Controller of Customs that the inspecting officers of the department in America, were perfectly clear In regard to the point raised by,the deputation as to the mode of ment and cost in America. The Customs Department was fully alive to the importance of seeing that the unassembled parts coming in- were charged a rate of duty on a fair and proper basis. ■ .'■ The Prime Minister asked the deputation to supply particulars as to the different kinds of cars affected, the country of origin, etc. A definite reply ! to the deputation must be deferred , untif the Government have heard from ■all interested parties.