I move amendment No. 1:—
To delete Reference No. 2 and all references thereto in columns Nos. 2, 3 and 4.
The proposal is to delete from the Schedule the reference to the imposition of a duty on almonds. The Minister for Industry and Commerce has told us that the duty which was here imposed upon almonds processed to a certain degree was imposed for the purpose of increasing industrial production, but he does not know what industrial employment it is going to give here; he does not know what wages are going to be paid; and so far as he has taken the House into his confidence, he does not know under what conditions that employment is going to be given. He does not know the quantity or the value of these things imported in the past and he has made no attempt to give us any information with regard to that. He tells us that since the issue of the Order he has issued licences and that, in one instance, he issued a licence allowing a half ton of dutiable almonds, which at the date of the imposition of the Order were in port, in without payment of duty.
He told us that, in another instance, he recommended the issue of a licence in respect of 20 tons of these almonds on which further processes were to be carried out. But although he has apparently been in negotiation with some particular firm asking for the imposition of this duty of 33? per cent., and although apparently that firm has approached him since and got from him a licence to import 20 tons of these dutiable almonds, he nevertheless refuses to give any information with regard to the new industry which is going to be developed here. The position apparently is that anybody who wants a tariff is able to go to the Minister for Industry and Commerce, either by the front or the back door, and say: "Give us a tariff; be a pal and give us a tariff," and they get it if they talk in the proper coaxing tone. And they get it without any advertence to the rise in the cost of living brought about by that particular tariff, or the tremendous rise in the cost of living due to the cumulative effects of these tariffs.
Someone has gone to the Minister in this particular way. He has discussed the development of the new industry here and he has given a tariff of 33? per cent. on these things. This House is entitled to know something of the proposals for the setting up of the new industry here; something of the amount of capital involved in it; whether it is one or two men, one or two women, or one or two children who are going to be employed in connection with the industry; whether in the meantime the cost of these things has gone up substantially; and what is the general policy of the Minister with regard to the licences which he is apparently issuing.
The Minister gives us here, say, quarter after quarter, a whole list of these new duties, and I think it is time he should turn over a new leaf and give the House some information that he must have arising out of the discussions that have gone on between himself and the Department and the parties looking for this particular tariff. He should not expect the House to impose substantial tariffs like these, even though on small matters, which are very definitely raising the cost of living all around and affecting, in this particular case, confectioners and people like that, and simply tell the House that this will lead to increased industrial production, that everything is all right, that there will be increased wages and employment, and that, after all, it is only a small matter and a small tariff. That is no way to treat the House. The Minister should turn over a new leaf and tell us something about the Orders and, on this one particularly, what are the general circumstances in which the industry will be set up and what employment it will give.
