Textile Imports Attacked By Union Secretary

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31109, 12 July 1966, Page 10

Textile Imports Attacked By Union Secretary

The wool section of Federated Farmers was doing a great disservice to New Zealand in trying to stifle local industry so that textiles could be imported from low-wage structure countries such as Italy, Japan, Hong Kong and China, said the national secretary of the New Zealand Federated Woollen Mills, Carpet and Hosiery Factory Employees’ Industrial Association of Workers (Mr L. B. Swan). The main industry of Kaiapoi, he said, would be virtually wiped out overnight if the pressure being put on the Government by the wool section of Federated Farmers resulted in the lifting of import restrictions of light-weight worsted materials. The Federated Farmers group, he said, should be more concerned at directing its efforts to restricting imports of synthetics, which to the layman could not be distinguished visually from natural fibres. Mr Swan said he felt the relaxing of imports on lightweight materials was only a beginning to unrestricted imports of all woollen goods. This, he said, could easily lead back to the situation of 1957, when some mills had to dismiss 40 per cent of their staff through the lack of orders. “I feel that the woollen industry, next te the freezing industry, is the most important secondary industry in New Zealand, in that except for dyes, you don’t use sterling funds for processing and manufacture,” said Mr Swan. “I suggest to Federated Farmers that they should give consideration to starting a mill or mills of their own, to export not only the raw wool, but manufactured garments or material.* Mr Swan said that to be able to cat costs, New Zealand woollen mills must receive large orders to enable them to have a decent run and reduce machine-stoppage time, caused by changing looms from one line to another. At one time, he said, New Zealand mills had reasonably long runs on worsted and tweed trousering, but with the advent of large importations of cotton goods even the Canterbury farmers themselves today seemed to prefer wearing corduroy trous-

ers, made entirely from cotton. Even farmer members of Parliament such as Mr G. A. Walsh, member for Tauranga, admitted recently in Parliament that he wore corduroy on the farm.

“What a shocking example given by our members of Parliament when they prefer cotton goods to their own woollen supplies, and then ask that our mills be restricted and our workers be put out ef jobs to allow the population in low-wage structure countries to be kept in employment,” said Mr Swan.

“New Zealand mills can produce about 60 per cent of the woven woollen piecegoods for this country, and all efforts should be made to see that this percentage is increased and not decreased.”

Mr Swan said that one of the worst features of syn-

thetics was that anybody at all with overseas funds could import as much synthetic garment material as they wished into New Zealand. They could do so without having either warehouse or any paid employees.

“The New Zealand farmers have agreed to this, and they want woollen goods to be imported from overseas,” said Mr Swan.

Mr Swan said this type of action oould cause many families with small children in areas such as Kaiapoi to leave the country districts to try to find alternative employment in Christchurch.

The drift to the North Island, he said, would be accentuated at a time when Canterbury was trying to develop local industry in smaller towns and to promote decentralisation.