Factories To Prepare For Competition

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 16, Issue 3, 2 October 1950, Page 5

Factories To Prepare For Competition

With a lack of fully effective competition, some manufacturers are considered by the Department of Industries and Commerce to be paying insufficient attention to the price or quality of their products. The annual report of the department presented to the House of Representatives states that it has been necessary to take up this issue with certain firms, pointing out that import licensing carries with it a responsibility to the consumer. Unquestionably it would be wise for these firms to consolidate their position now, the department says. They should prepare themselves more effectively to meet overseas competition when it was possible to remove import licensing. Many, firms might not survive if protected solely by the present tariff, particularly since the New Zealand pound is now at parity with sterling. The report says it has been suggested that as the Dominion’s productive resources are now so fully employed, some reassessment of policy should be made. It ■ regarded as questionable whether industrial expansion should proceed at its present pace and so add to the existing unsatisfied demand for labour and other scarce factors of production. In fact, it has been suggested that review of the manufacturing industry should be carried out to determine industries that are worthwhile and those whose continuance is not in the best interests of the nation.