The Dominion THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 1919. OUR SECONDARY INDUSTRIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 227, 19 June 1919, Page 4

The Dominion THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 1919. OUR SECONDARY INDUSTRIES

In many countries the best recommendation goods offered for sale can carry is that they are of local manufacture. In this country it is too often the other _ way about. Although it is a familiar fact ■ that some articles produced in the Dominion are as , good of their kind as the' world can show, there is a widespread, but ouite unwarranted, tendency to assume that on an average goods of local manufacture are only an inferior substitute for something that is imported. Diffidence or lack of enterprise on the part of manufacturers and the ruling policy of retail traders have, contributed to this state of affairs, which, obviously, is as undesirable from the point of view of the consuming public as from that of those who are or might be engaged in manufacturing industry. A discussion on the subject at a recent meeting of the local Industrial Association was perhaps chiefly interesting as showing how little has yet been done or attempted in the way of organised effort to popularise goods of New Zealand manufacture. Tho fact was brought out that even amongst manufacturers themselves there was a considerable lack of knowledge in regard to the actual scope and development of secondary industries in this country. Me. Watkins' observed, for instance, that even members of tho association, who were industrialists, did not kndw much about goods outside of their own lines, produced in the Dominion. "They had not the information, and there Vas no source from which they could get it readily." When such things aro td be said of manufacturers it is hardly to be wondered at if retail traders and the consuming public are less enthusiastic than they ought to be in supporting local industries. Some consideration was given at the meeting of the Industrial Association to tho idea of organising an educative campaign in -favour of local industries in the schools, but ifche matter obviously is one that calls for much more direct and.comprehensive treatment. It is, of course, advisable to encourage school children to take an intelligent interest in all forms of industry carried.on m the Dominion, primary as well as secondary, but it would be pessimistic to assume that nothing but a slow process of education will eii,able goods of local production to take in popular estimation the place to which they are entitled on thoir merits. • There does not seem to be any reason why' this resulf, should not be. attained speedily by .well-considered efforts on right lines.

Primarily, of course, it is the business of the individual manufacturer to make known the merits of his wares, but there is scope also for an organised'campaign in the interests of secondary industries, and for a measure of State co-opera-tion and assistance, One ready means of popularising the "Made in New Zealand" mark be to give it- the same value as now attaches to the Government grading stamp on primary prodficc. This might'be arranged under a State inspection of manufactured articles through the agency of a reorganised and enlarged Department of Industries and Commerce. This country, in any case, badly needs an organisation on the lines of the British Board of Trade, and trie existing Department and local Board of Trade created during the war period should provide between them the_ necessary nucleus. , Such an organisation, besides being able to certify, the quality of manufactured articles, should afford the machinery for bringing manufacturers into effective touch with the local market, and to some extent with markets abroad. At present many people have hazy ideas about what is and is not manufactured in the Dominion. With a Department of Industries constituted on practical lines in existence all obscurity on the subject would bo speedily dissipated. In pressing for the establishment of such a Department, and in other directions, there is room for useful effort in the interests of secondary industries not only by such bodies as Chambers of Commerce and Industrial Associations, but by Labour organisations, whoso members are or should be very much interested in securing preference for the local as against the''imported'article and so, amongst othor things, broadening the scope and basis of profitable employment. Those manufacturers who' hold it Ought to get rid of the idea that it is hopeless to get the adult consumer to recognise the claims of articles of local production and the advantages of supporting local industry, and that any important development, of secondary industries must await the appearance of n, wiscr generation. Tho truth is that no really sustained effort has yet been made to capture tho greatest possible share of the local 'market, and the experience of other countries goes to show that such an effort only needs to be made with due energy and enterprise to succeed. So far as tho British Dominions arc concerned, Canada is a conspicuous case in point. In Canada local industries aro boomed right up to the stage of retail sale, and the result is seen in a truly remarkable rate of expansion. The following table shows the progress made under soveral heads in Canadian manufactur-

ing industry in tho short space of two years, from 1915 to 1917: ■ 1915. 1917. Increase, Capital £ S 6 invested 398.820,654 554.503,536 155,682 882 Salariee paid 12,061,658 19,196,701 7,135043 AVages paid 45,891,242 91,449,091 45,557,'849 'Number. Number, Number. Employees on salary ... 52,695 '3,598 20,915 Employees on wages m 462,200 619,473 157,273 In the same period, the cost of materials used in Canadian industries alriiost doubled and the value of products more than doubled. Exactly corresponding figures for New Zealand are not available, but a comparison instituted in the latest Year Book between the years 1911 and 1916 shows that the relative expansion in five years was only a fraction of that registered in Canada in two years. In the latter Dominion the aggregate number of employees on wages and salary in manufacturing industry increased by about 35 per cent, in two years; in New Zealand the number of employees increased by less than three per cent, in five years. Again, while in Canada the value of products was more than doubled in two years, in this country it was increased by considerably less than one-half in five years. Allowing for the fact that Canada is an older settled country and that secondary industries take relatively a much more important place in its interna! economy than in that of New Zealand, the comparison is still one to suggest that opportunities are to some extent being neglected in this country and that a more rapid rate of expansion is well within the bounds of possibility. An organised and comprehensive attempt to win a fully recognised footing in tho local market is not, of course, tho only thing needed to. expedite the development of New Zealand secondary industries, but it would be an important and promising step in the right direction. Extending their hold on the local market, manufacturers would be progressively better placed to promote- the increased efficiency of production upon which they must ultimately depend. . Every step towards better organisation arid in popularising local industries' would make it easier also to secure the redress of legitimate grievances and the removal of unfair handicaps such as that mentioned at theimeeting of the Industrial Association the other day in connection , with tendering for Government supplies. 'It was claimed that in some cases the Customs tariff operates heavily to the detriment of the local manufacturer as against the importer. Many things, in fact, suggest that it.is well within the power of manufacturers, if they organise on practical lines, to greatly improve the standing of secondary industries in this country.