POLICY OF FULL EMPLOYMENT

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24904, 18 June 1946, Page 4

POLICY OF FULL EMPLOYMENT

PLACE OF SECONDARY INDUSTRY

PROTECTION HELD ESSENTIAL (P.A.) WELLINGTON, June 17. Secondary industries must be protected if New Zealand was to build up its population and maintain the present standard of living, said the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser), reporting for the Parliamentary section to the Labour Party conference to-day. The development of secondary industry was of the utmost importance in full employment. New Zealand’s growing population could not be absorbed in primary industries, particularly because of the increasing mechanisation ‘of farms.

The policy of import control, introduced in 1938, was valuable for two reasons. First was its service in safeguarding the Dominion's constructive financial policy. Second was its value in encouraging the growth of manufacturing in New Zealand. Statistics left no doubt about the results of Labour’s policy. Employment was found for more than 38,000 more workers in New Zealand factories than in 1935. Their production was worth £175,000,000, which was nearly £100,000,000 more than the value of output in '1935. In the same period the volume of output rose by 69 per cent. Capital invested, as represented by the value of fixed assets, increased from £67,250,000 in 1935 to £90,750,000 in 1944. Wages in factories amounted to only £13.000,000 in 1935. In 1944 they amounted to £34,000,000. It had been Labour’s policy to ensure that the rewards of industry were distributed equitably, thus providing the greatest incentive to increased production. •