OUR OWN GOODS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2420, 27 March 1915, Page 14

OUR OWN GOODS

PLEA FOR LOCAL INDUSTRIES j MANUFACTURERS' VIEWS . The leaders of the movement for the establishment of a Board of Trade in New Zealand, viz., Mr. J. B. Laurenson, President of the Christchurch Industrial Association and the New Zealand Industrial' Corporation, Mr. S. J. Harbutt, President of the Auckland Industrial Association; Mr. C. B. Norwood, President of the Wellington Industrial Association; and Mr. A. It. Sennett, organiser of the Board of Trade scheme, were interviewed as a body by a Dominion reporter on the subject of the extension of trade and manufactures in New Zealand. It happens that they are all manufacturers, so it was that there views as they expressed theni related mostly to the fostering of local manufactures. First they spoke of the possibility of establishing new industries.

Tar By-Products. "We are importing now," said Mr. Laurenson, "some £60,000 worth of cyanide of sodium for gold extraction. There is enough gas made in New Zealand to enable us to manufacture 500 tons of this product, and this would supply all New Zealand requirements and leave about 250 ton j for export. This matter is being inquired into by certain peoplo in Christchuich, and possibly something satisfactory may result. Indeed, the very important subject of-utilisation of the waste products from gasworks is receiving careful consideration. The number of the deriva-.

tives from gas tar .is surprising, and there is no reason why a certain, number of these should not be obtained from what is now absolutely a waste product. Such matters as this will no doubt be investigated by the Board of Trade. . Wood Pulp and Paper. . Mr." Senviett: . 'Considerable progress has been made in the formation of a company for tho; : making of' paper from wood pulp. Samples of certain New' Zealand woods were sent to Germany recently, end there they were made into papers of various quaPties uilder the eye of an expert, who also went to Germany 'from here. The manufactured paper :was most satisfactory. Already a iarge tract of timber country on the West Coast, some 130,000 acres in extent, lias been secured, along with a site for the works to bo erected. I

may say, too, that several other industries in which pulp, sawdust, bark, and other wood waste form the raw material, are under very careful expert consideration. Drug Supplies. "If the Board of Trade is set -up as we request, one of the committees 'will consider i a scheme for the planting of areas with herbs and plants, from the foliage or roots of which drugs may be distilled. Investigation of this project, so far as it has gone,_ has been very encouraging, and I believe the scheme could be profitably worked. Of course it .is not to be hurriedly, embarked upon, because fresh legislation might be necessary in regard to the use of absolute alcohol for the manufacture of these drugs. Blundering in the Dark. Mr. Laurenson:,These new industries are started in New Zealand under the very greatest difficulty for this reason: that the people interested have had to collect for themselves all the necessary information. They have for the most part blundered, in the dark, and lost a lot of money and time. If a Board of Trade were in existence, and a man came along • with a proposal to launch a new industry, the Board of Trade would either have at hand, or would find out for' him, all the information he would require. Mr. C. B. Norwood: An illustration of Mr. Laurcnson's point came under our notice in Wellington recently. A shortage which threatened to be serious occurred in the supply of carbons for searchlights' at the different ports _ of New Zealand, because it was impossible Ito procure supplies abroad. As a matter of fact most of the carbons used formerly came, from Germany. The Wellington Gas Company, with the assistjance of Professor Easterfield, after a groat deal of experimenting, more or less costly, was able to make satisfac.tory carbons. But the difficulty they met with was that there was at hand no reliable information on which they could .set to work. Of course for the manufacture of such an article there ought to be available a formula, well known now no doubt in places where they are made in quantity, which could bo referred, to at any time.

Inventors' Difficulties. Mr. Livuraison: I think wo might speak of the difficulties that an inventor meets with nowadays to get anybody to look at his patent. If there were a Board of Trade it would be in touch with thoroughly-trained mechanic? who would bo able to advise him as to whether he had an- idea or a machine that was practicable or not. Stern Necessity. Mr. Sennett; Another instance of a now industry • being brought into being by the war is that of the manufacture of insulators, required for the Lake Coleridge Electricity supply. The difficulty about getting these insulators from abroad—tliey were formerly all made in Germany—

r 1 \ was a .seirous one, and a.; local maiiu-i I facturer turned his attention to it. Ha \ has been entirely successful. The iiasu- \ lators lie lias made are giving every, J satisfaction carrying wires with a cup- ] rent of 60,000 volts. . \, Mr. Laurenson: Of oourse it might seem to be open, to anybody to say: I "Well if you can make all these goods \vhy don't you go ahead and make £ them?" The answer to that is that \ only stem necessity forces the. users of goods to come to the local manufnc- • • turer. The stoppage of German trade i. will certainly open up a very wide field to the New Zealand manufacturer, but the prejudice against the locallymade article is still very strong. Sir. Norwood: Personally I think our. business should be to try to .encourage the manufacturers to produce goods to _ supply • the needs of the country, quite_ apart from the special conditions existing now. ■

Woollen Goods. Mr. Sennett: The light'class of .woollen goods for sub-tropical climates' are mostly produced in Germany—they are not pushed at Home—and there should bo no difficulty about extending our textile industries in this direction. Mr. Laurenson: It is a regrettable fact that although we do not use 4 per cent, of our own' wool for our own woollen manufactures, we import nearly £300,000 worth qf Woollen goods. Generally speaking New Zealand woollens are equaj to anything imported. I am not making this statement blindly, because in our industries week last year we took particular note of that. I asked the men _ who ordinarily sell the goods, local and imported, .what they thought, and always I was .assured that New Zealand goods had nothing to fear from . any outside competition as far as quality was concerned. With .regard to the lighter class of. hosiery 'the woollen mills are hardly in a position to put in'the necessary machinery unless they can be assured of a mar-, kefc. If the people of New Zealand would buy goods made in their'.own. country our mills could supply all they need. If we made, in New Zealand haif the woollen goods we now imported the people that the increase in the industry would support would be" enough to populate a town, of the size of Dunediu.

Food Products. New Zealand manufacturers in the way of prepared fish—smoked, potted,--and tinned—are worth some £27,000 a year. The plant used is- valued at' £20,000, and the factories employ 59 hands. In spite of the fact that our ■ fish supply is probably as varied and as good as that of any other country in the world, we >mport £89,585 'worthi of prepared fish. We pay on that £20,342 in duty, and il we used our owu. fißh we would employ a;' 255 more men. This, of course, applies only to the factories. AVhat the creased production would mean in the' way of more fishennen, and in the use of more boats, oil engines, and gear, one can only guess. Do you know that' we manufacture here £135,506 worth of preserved fruit? We have plant worth £55,461, and we employ in the business 289 hands. But we also import £41,276 worth, on which we pay' £12,96S duty. _ If we preserved the fruit we can grow in such profusion, and in such perfection in our own country we would employ 123 more hands, without opening the question of in-, creased export at all. Again this takesi no account of orchardists, pickers, and. packers and the other people .employed m handling the fruit before it reaches the factory..

How It Works. "I should like," said Mr. LaurenEon,. ~ "to give you an illustration of ,how this-. ' country has lost, manufactures..;. Before ...' the Commonwealth tariff caine. .into".'. operation one firm in Xgw Zealand was! . exporting to Australia £20,000. worth., of mining machinery per year." Within: ' 12 months of the imposition of tEe tar->,.. iff that trade had disappeared. Tha ( firm in question went over to Viotoria, ' and established works there! - In theip new works they are doing excellent busi-: ' n6ss, while theifv New Zealand works, are at the present moment'Vorking at 75 per cent, under their capacity. "One of the new. things the Board of Trade will have to do is to get our import statistics classified under proper headings,, so [ that we caii get exact information :ahout what we actually do import. For instance, under the hcad-< ing of hardware in our statistics now is lumped'all brassware, including a great deal of goods that we can and do make here, and a great deal that we can not make. Also many of the Home manufacturers whose goods are not dutiable pass their goods through at .their own factory prices. This makes the amount imported appear low. _ Lot lis say that it is £25,000; that will, mean probably £45,000 to the importer, and very likely nearly £100,000 to the consumer. Stai tistics which do not show this are valu&t less for any purpose."