BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published Tuesdays and Fridays. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1947 PARLIAMENTARIANS’ VISIT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 91, 21 October 1947, Page 4

BAY OF PLENTY BEACON Published Tuesdays and Fridays. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1947 PARLIAMENTARIANS’ VISIT

This district is indebted to the directors of Whakatane Paper Mills Ltd. for having brought a strong team of Members of Parliament here for the weekend on a conducted educational tour. The Leader of the Opposition and a dozen of his colleagues had a chance to see for themselves the tremendous potentialities for development in this locality, and no-one who accompanied them on any part of the tour can doubt that, by the local knowledge his team-mates have gained, our own Member’s hand will be considerably strengthened in the House. South Islanders were well represented amongst the visitors, and all agreed that their tour, of which the past week-end embraced the major part, has helped them considerably to understand the problem and potentialities of the, districts through which they passed. As regards the actual pulping industry, Mr Holland and others described that as a great primary industry, second only to food production, and with great exporting possibilities. Undoubtedly the description fits, but at the moment one has the impression that there is urgent need for the Government to take off the brake so far as the utilisation of forestry products is concerned, and, if unable itself to handle the resources of the tremendous exotic forests in the Rotorua and other conservancies, to do all in its power to give free enterprise the chance to develop the terrific potential of a colossal industry for which the raw material is ready to hand and the demand insatiable.

Everyone knows there are difficulties, rooted mainly in the acute labour shortage during the war years and the dearth of machinery imports then and since. However, there will be general agreement that a huge national asset like Kaingaroa should be utilised to the full, and the sooner the better. There has been much talk of a Government paper mill at Murupara. Definite action to have it established would be welcome, and particularly so in this district. Whether the development of the exotic timber resources of this locality is to be a state monopoly or a matter of private opportunity, there can be no argument about its being something of immediate. national importance, certain to be the subject of future deliberation in the House.

Thanks to the directors of the Whakatane Paper Mills, residents of this district can feel now that when any matter of particular importance to this district is discussed, Mr Sullivan’s colleagues will have an enhanced background for any support they feel his representations merit. Industrialists in other districts might well benefit from following the lead the Paper Mills have given.