RAW MATERIALS FOR INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 156, 28 March 1939, Page 8

RAW MATERIALS FOR INDUSTRY

Manufacturers Complain DIFFICULTY IN SECURING SUPPLIES Dominion Special Service. AUCKLAND, March 27. Despite assurances by the Government that raw materials from overseas will be made available for manutactuiers, difficulties are still being experienced iu obtaining adequate supplies. Manufacturers complain that the necessity to negotiate with the authorities, who often require to be satisfied on a variety of aspects before issuing licences, absorbs valuable time and energy and is not conducive to industrial development. Indeed, instances are reported vheic delays in obtaining licences for certain materials have caused the abandonment of plans for their use and the question is being asked how it is possible to develop industry generally under the burden of administration ail'd regulation placed upon it. Numbers of applications for raw materials are still unsatisfied. According to manufacturers, the Customs Department iu pursuance of the policy it is called upon to administer requires , to be satisfied upon such points as to whether raw materials required from perhaps a foreign country could not be obtained in England. While the manufacturers admit that it is desirable to trade with Britain in preference to foreign countries, they feel it is not sufficiently appreciated that there are often sound manufacturing reasons why supplies should be obtained from particular countries. The necessity to back their preferences with evidence when the quqantities of costs concerned are trifling is described as irritating, but it is also hampering. It is ponted out that many types of Dominion industry are mostly assembly work and reliance is placed on overseas materials drawn from a wide radius, even footwear manufacturing, which can claim to be more than a mere assembly industry,' draws an extraordinary variety of materials that cannot be obtained in the Dominion from many countries. The point is made by the manufacturers that to restrict importations of raw materials not only in quantity but to preferences by countries definitely is destructive to the competition in quality that is the basis of a successful industry.