NEW TARIFF AND FARMERS

Waikato Times, Volume 102, Issue 17223, 5 October 1927, Page 6

NEW TARIFF AND FARMERS

At the eleventh hour and without any warning Parliament has added considerably ,to the duties on agricultural implements. The increases come into force to-day. Already the Cambridge Farmers' Union had protested against the new imposts proposed in Hie schedule presented to Parliament last month. Mr R. Peisst had stated that 27 items of farmers' requisites were to be more heavily taxed. The changes made yesterday increase the burden still further. The reason given by the Minister of Finance, Hon. W. Downie Stewart, is, of course, a desire to encourage local manufacture. So the farmer is called upon to pay a still further subsidy to town industries. Some offset to this is provided in the lowering of the tariff on certain household' necessaries. Mr Feisst has, we consider, unduly minimised, the value of this concession as merely "assisting the breakfast table." Any change that lowers the. cost of living generally tends in time to lower the costs of production. However, he might well point out that any gain to the primary producers from this source will be slow in coming, whereas the prices of farm requisite's are likely to be raised immediately, now that (lie new new tariff is in force. As the Opposition Party in Parliament is even more definitely committed to high protective tariffs than the Government, the farmers are between the devil and the deep sea. The difficulty arises from the fact that politicians lack the courage to impose direct taxes, which are usually fairer than those collected through the storekeeper and merchant, but meet with far more vigorous opposition. The question arises whether an improvement could be effected by a change in the system of parliamentary representation, such as might return members more concerned for fairplay and less for the spoils of office.