LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1555, 26 September 1912, Page 6

LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

: ♦ DOMINION CONFERENCE, The conference of th* Industrial CorpfV ration of Netv Zealand, which opened in i Wellington on Tuesday morning, coucludi ed its business tho fame night. Tho greater portion of the proceedings ,was reFjprted in yesterday's issue. The other portion, which was held over through pressure on space, is appended, BACK-COUNTRY ROADS. REPRESENTATION TO THE GOVERNMENT. Mr. S. J. Harbutt (Auckland) brought up the question of main arterial , roads, a. matter in which, ho said, the Auckland Industrial Association had been moving for about nine months. The Auckland Association wanted tho corporation to back them .up in an. endeavour to get tho Government to provide the local lxxlics with better opportunities to road tho back country. How the Government ( wero to do it, lie was not. prepared to say. n hen the Government opened up land they should liavo to road it just as a private individual would have to do. It would be cheaper and better for tho settlers if, when opening land, the Government put the roads in and loaded tho land with the cost, than it was to simply open tho laud and lend tho settlers tho money with which to make the roads. He moved: That this corporation should mako representation to the Governmefit that, prior to land being opened for selection,-main roads should lie formed, and the land should be loaded with the cost. Mr. J. M. Wilson (Auckland) said that! a great, mistake had been made in the borrowing of money for local bodies. A ? great portion of the money borrowed for 1 local bodies had boon spent about tho 1 cities. ■ Mr. J. P. Luke (Wellington): Oh, not Mr. Wilson : ■ Yes. Mr. Luke: Well, it must have been in ' Auckland, not in Wellington. • Mr. Wilson: I say that tho money borrowed through tho Government should bo # spent iu tho back-blocks. Lot. tho t cities find their own. But tho money hhs been spent about tho, citics, and the , back-blocks,' have been, starved. [ Mr. Lukosaid that ho .'thought that it would have been better had the country been roaded with the money which hail Wen spent on the of larga private properties. Ho believed in. tho principle of breaking up huge estate's, b'ut ho thought that the roading of tho back country should have been undertaken first and .in the .meantime, the big privalo holdings would have been yielding considerable quantities of tho products of tho soil. The people would thus have had a chance to get land, .the land would hayo been the sooner . brought Into a state of . productivity, nnd much of it.would not now be over-run with uo&ious weeds. Mr. ; ! I.uke remarked that it was very easy, for ; 'people to sit comfortably at city meetings ' and talk flippantly about advising; people , to go back on the land—-the .land of tho far back-blocks. Ho was not sure tlrat ■ it was wise for tho corporation to ap-i [ proach the Government on this question, \ but ho would support the motion, j Tho motion was carried. ■ SCHOOL OF FORESTRY, l On tho motion of Mr. S. J. Harbutt it [ was resolved: "That the corporation should make representation to the Government . asking them to establish a school of forestry, nnd to prosecute this work' as fast as they can."' HYDRO-ELECTRICAL SCHEME, Mr. P. Hercus (Christchurch) moved: "That the recommendation of this corporation bo respectfully forwarded to the Government that the hydro-elec-trical scheme as begun in Canterbury at Lake Coleridge should be pushed i forward with ull possible speed, in' , the interests of tho industries; of the' Dominion." SHORTAGE, OF SKILLED .LABOUR., Various delegates declared that thor« was a shortage of skilled labour in New Zealand. • • •"We absolutely starving for men in the plumbing trado," was a remark which Mr. T. Ballinger made. Ho could not give tho reason for the shortage, but thought that it might be because such good wages could be got by uuskilled workers. For instance, Is. 3d. per hour could bo obtained by wharf labourers. When such good money could be earned right away without (raining it Mas not surprising that young men did not* spend years learning a trade. It was resolved:— "That this conference views with alarm the continued shortage'of skill', ed labour, and urges on tho Government tho necessity of securing accurate information as to tho actual situation of the labour market In tho Do- ■ minion with a view to adopting somo well-considered scheme to supply tho want. Wo suggest this end tho advisability of appointing a properly qualified board to import only such labour as would bo suitable, luc conference feels that in tho past prbper supervision has not been exercised, and that this has resulted m very unsuitable labour being brought out. Mr. J. P. (Wellington) then, moved:— "That in tho opinion of this conference the Government should be advised to consider whether . the time has arrived- when this Dominion should, out of its funds, provide money for the purposo of introducing into the Dominion classes of workers. s,nt : • able for file different industries of the community, a portion of the pa..age money, to be refunded before th« expiry of a period to be agreed upon. . This was agreed to. OTHER SUBJECTS. The conference expressed regret that the Dnnedin Industrial Association : lind lapsed, and it urged those interested to tho association.. It was decided that. Mii endeavour■ sho U be undo by the. secretary to get other provincial Locations formed throughout the Dominion. . , Tho conference resolved that nn en deavour should be made by the aihlinted associations to get factory ® instruction added to the syllabus 01 Uie technical schools.