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come to this colony ?—As the firm's name has been mentioned, I may say it is McKee and Gamble, of Wellington. 166. Do they supply the newspapers here?— Yes, the country papers. 167. Mr. Tanner.] They ultimately get back to the firm that issues them ?—Yes; they keep the matrix, and after the stereo is returned it is melted down for fresh use. 168. Mr. Hutchison.] Does this firm of McKee and Gamble supply all the newspapers that use stereos in this colony ?—I do not know, but I believe they supply a considerable number of papers. 169. And some will come from Australia ? —That may be so, but not to my knowledge. 170. Any from England? —Yes. There are matrices like that [one produced] which come from England, and even stereos themselves. 171. The Chairman.] You had better tell us about them? —Stereos are not imported to any extent, as matrices have taken the place of imported stereo-work. There are numbers of stereos that come to this colony in the same way as matrices do ; they come in metal. Matrices, of course, come in paper, but stereos come to the colony already cast. We also want a prohibitive duty on stereos. 172. How is the Customhouse to get hold of that particular paper ?—They come out in small boxes, as far as I am aware. 173. Marked as matrices ? —I do not know. They might delude the Customhouse in regard to them. It is the duty of the Customs officer to keep his eyes open respecting them. I may say that it has never come to our knowledge that there has been any extensive use of matrices by the leading papers in the colony. I think I would soon have heard about it if they did. 174. Mr. Stevens.] Would the imposition of a 200-per-cent. duty place the producers of these matrices on exactly an equality with the cost of setting in the colony ?—An imposition of less than 200 per cent, could in no way be a prohibitive duty, or a protective duty even. We ask for a prohibitive duty. The Chairman: A reply was given by the witness which covers the ground very much. He said, that if a duty of a certain amount were put on to equalise the cost of production, either by stereo or hand-setting, even that would not equalise the matter, inasmuch as you have to add to the cost of hand-setting the cost of lighting the offices, &c. Mr. Stevens : I fail to see how it would give effect to Mr. Jones's request, even if desired to do so, if we added 200 per cent. We should require a great deal more than 200. 175. Mr. Tanner.] Is the distribution of type done by men or boys. It must take place in any case?— Just so. 176. By adult labour? — Yes; and boy-labour. 177. Mr. Hutchison.] You do not think anything about the poor country newspapers, Mr. Jones? —Yes, I do. I think, so far as we are concerned, the country newspapers are so blocked with boys that it is detrimental to adult labour. 178. The Chairman.] That is a little outside the main issue. Now, Mr. Jones, although not precisely a matter for you to consider, have you thought of the position of the Customs in this matter ? It is to be assumed that, like the rest of us, you are trying to do your duty by the colony as well as by your own profession. Supposing we were to make a recommendation in the direction you suggest, how would it be possible to impose the duty ? Supposing the import duty reached anything like 100 per cent., would it not lead to fraud, or to a danger of smuggling, taking place ? — Speaking conscientiously, I think, undoubtedly, people would try to smuggle these matrices in. 179. In that case, I suppose there would be no possibility of charging at per column, because matrices are sent in rolls or sheets? —They are sent in single column. 180. Are matrices sent in sheet or column form ? —ln column form. 181. How are they invoiced? —That I do not know. 182. They will be invoiced, say, at so much per column?—l think, at 2s. 6d. per column. 183. They would therefore be charged ad valorem —the value as represented in the, invoice?—■ Yes. 184. Is there anything further that has not been elicited by the questions that you would like to add to complete this part of the subject ? —I think it has been ventilated pretty well. 185. Do you think that if this duty were imposed any more printers would be employed ?— I think so. 186. How many ?—I cannot say definitely. I think it would give employment to more adult labour. There is one thing I have omitted : Outside of country newspapers, such a publication as Tit-bits is also produced from matrices. 187. I think there was another question you wished to raise?—lt refers to stereos. The same arguments will apply to these. We also wish a prohibitive duty placed upon the printed supplements that come out to the colony; and the arguments that apply to matrices will also apply to them. 188. Are printed supplements used largely in the colony, do you think ? —I think they have been, but I think matrices have taken their place to a considerable extent. I have several other matters which I desire to bring before the Commission, and they are programmes, circulars, playbills, theatrical and other posters, labels for presentation-books, labels and tags, show-cards, invoices and statement forms, billheads, drapers' account-books, pictorial printed posters (not lithos), chemists' and patent-medicine books, and memo, forms. 189. Such books as Mother Seigel's books?— Yes. We ask that 50 per cent, be placed upon these. 190. Do you think a duty of 25 to 30 per cent, would prevent the importation ? —We want 50 per cent, more in addition to the present tariff. 191. You want the duties raised from 20 or 25 to 75 per cent. ?—Yes. With regard to some of the billheads, they are sent out with an advertisement of the firm at Home attached to the head