8 /. E. Le Rossignol and W. D. Stewart 



from foreign countries. The preferential tariff, therefore, is 

 protective in its character rather than productive of revenue, and 

 is shrewdly contrived so as to give a maximum of benefit to the 

 New Zealand manufacturer and a minimum of advantage to his 

 British competitor, whom, at first sight, it appears to favor. 



In 1906 a reciprocity treaty was entered into with South 

 Africa, involving a reduction in the duties on feathers, wines, 

 sugar, tobacco, maize, fish, and tea, the admission of 'dried and 

 green fruits free of duty, and a reduction of 25 per cent on all 

 other goods except spirits. As the trade between the two col- 

 onies is insignificant, little importance as yet attaches to this 

 treaty. 



A revision of the tariff' was brought about in 1907 under the 

 direction of the Minister of Customs, the Hon. J. A. Millar. The 

 chief features of the new act are as follows : 



1. Some more articles of household use, as sugar and molasses, 

 were placed upon the free list in furtherance of the principle of 

 a "free breakfast table." 



2. Reduction or abolition of the duty on the raw materials of 

 colonial manufacture. 



3. Further protection to local industries. 



4. Further extension of the principle of preference to British 

 goods, or, rather, discrimination against non-British goods, so 

 as to cover in all 198 items. 1 



It is not likely that the tariff will be touched again for some 

 years to come. At present the duties of the ordinary tariff range 

 from 5 per cent to 40 per cent ; those of the preferential tariff 

 run as high as 50 per cent or more, as in the case of the cheaper 

 grades of American-made shoes. The tariff is approved of in 

 the main by the manufacturers and workers, although the manu- 

 facturers claim that they do not receive sufficient protection to 

 compensate them for the high wages they are obliged to pay 

 under the awards of the Arbitration Court. The farmers, as a 

 class, are opposed to the tariff, holding to the policy commonly 

 known as the "three F's" — Freehold, Free Trade, and Free Con- 

 tract. There are also people who consider that the indirect taxes 



'The Tariff Act, 1907. 



2=6 





I 



