POST-WAR PLANNING

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 15, 13 October 1943, Page 6

POST-WAR PLANNING

British Dictation Held Unlikely INDUSTRIAL ISSUES

Dominion Special Service. NAPIER, October 12.

New Zealand’s size and influence should be taken in correct perspective, and with that appreciated the country should and could plan along certain broad lines, said Mr. C. V. Smith, when commenting in his presidential address at the New Zealand Manufacturers Federation conference today on the need for post-war planning being done by New Zealand. He did not suggest that New Zealand could isolate herself from the rest of the world, but he did suggest that New Zealand’s size and geographical position enabled it to take certain steps which larger countries could not take. “I have heard it said that we can only do what the British Government allows us to do. I never did believe that. I don’t believe that any recent British Government would endeavour to dictate to the Government of any of the Dominions. “In the position of a good customer, Great Britain has the right to say 'whether or not she will take our produce. As a lender of money she has the right to say how much she will lend, what the interest will be, and to demand repayment when due. I' or the hundred and one things that Great Britain has done voluntarily for- the Dominion, the maintenace of the British Fleet, for example, she has the right to ask for most favourable treatment, and from New Zealand in particular has always had that treatment. “Great Britain is in the position that she could, if she wanted to. wield the big stick at New Zealand, but has not done so and will not do so for the same reason that no wise manufacturer would attempt to do so to his customers I am convinced, therefore, that Butain will not tell us what we» have to do and what we have not to do. “New Zealand’s name stands higher in Britain today that it has ever done before. Can you visualize, therefore, Britain returning thanks by telling us that we must stop manufacturing this thing or the other thing, that we must turn other work for our people, that we must lower our already low tariffs? “On the contrary, there is ample evidence that Britain, far from suggesting the curtailment of industrial expansion in the Dominion, not only realizes the necessity for it in her own good ns well as ours, but welcomes it for a number of reasons, the most important being that if such industrialization results in Britain’s customers being richer there should be an increase in trade for Britain, though the nature of her exports might change.” Expansion Aims.

After dealing with New Zealand s three major problems—primary products, productive employment for the people, and an increased population —Mr. Smith indicated that all his remarks had been directed to one end. That was a plea for the expansion of industry (primary and manufacturing) as being one solution to a large number of the country s problems. .. “I would repeat, he said, the request made to the Government by the federation to set up a commission winch would examine the possibilities of industrial expansion and the production of wealth in New Zealand. I would like to see something in the nature of a Tariff Board established on the Australian lines with its object to give industries their opportunity of proving themselves. • “Import control was not meant to take the place of a tariff. There were numerous articles prohibited under import control that no New Zealand manufacturer could make or would wish to make. The issue of import control has been confused in the minds of the public because it has not been realized that behind import control there was a shortage of overseas funds which meant producing what could be produced in New Zealand, limiting purchases of other goods and cutting out many luxuries. "I think I can safely say that no manufacturer likes import control in its present form. Though there are aovantagos, there ore pitfalls. and for that reason I feel that a Tariff Board would in the long run prove more beneficial to manufacturers, because they would be on their mettle/’ ■