TOPICS OF THE DAY

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 102, 2 May 1930, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Fusion, according to our Auckland correspondent, has been relegated to the background of the Parnell by-election. We are not surprised at this, but it is, nevertheless, evidence of the aimlessness of our politicians. They have discovered no great issue upon which to fight the by-election. There is an issue as between Labour and the other two parties, but between United and Reform there is nothing that calls for the concentration of heavy political artillery and the intensive bombardment which the electors,are suffering. Fusion has not been pushed into the. background by more urgent issues. It has been recognised.as a question of some difficulty, and-has been avoided. . Yet the by-election was brought about on this very question. Mr. Jenkins, with clearer vision than < some 'of the' leaders,' saw the impossibility of maintaining the present position. So he joined the Reform Party with the intention of working for union of Reform and United, He was eliminated by the selection of Mr. Endean as Reform .candidate, and: apparently the parties think they have eliminated also the issue which he raised. They are mistaken. They may put off for a while the day when they must consider it, but they cannot make such consideration unnecessary. If they refuse to face the question now they may even delude themselves with the belief that a victory at Parnejl is a .Dominion verdict for one side or the other—that the country has pronounced for Reform or United, and that the successful, party has only to bide its time till the pronouncement is endorsed by a General Election. But they will be deceiving themselves,. and not the electors. They would be wiser by far if they now realised that they must face this question sooner or later. Will they do so, or will they continue firing heavy volleys with blank cartridges? • * * '. Next to our sporting interest in the fateSiof the British football team now en route to New Zealand comes our equally sporting .interest in the doings of the Australian cricketers in England. In so far as an opening match against Worcestershire can be considered an index at all, it is an interesting index.; One question transcends all others—is the Australian attack equal to its task? A Worcestershire match can at best be only a partial answer, but, so far as it goes on first innings performance, it does not flatter Wall. He secured no wickets, and the batsmen do riot seem to have been worried by his speed. A'Beckett and Hornibrook also went wicketless at their opening performance. Meanwhile —as was the casein both of the last two tours, Australian and English—it is the old and tried element that sustains the attack: . . Grimmett, despite 2j- hours' bowling, was accurate and persistent. •• So this first fielding episode in the big epic now unrolling has no new message save Fairfax's four wickets for 36. But oh the batting side there are azure patches. The young Bradman and the seasoned Woodfull display at first attempt a century each. Giddy with that four for 36, Fairfax opens with a duck! But this is cricket, glorious cricket. Everr Woodfull, on whom rests great responsibilities, dropped the business out of sport when his three figures were posted, "went for" the bowling, and gave Brook an easy wicket while trying to show Worcestershire a dazzling six. :

Manufacturers, in New Zealand have obtained, through the high rate of exchange, a measure of the additional protection which they sought through the tariff. It is not exactly what they sought, as it applies to all imports, and is in no way selec-

live as a I arid increase- would have' been. But it will give some additional, though temporary, protection. This is admitted by ihe president of the Canterbury Manufacturers' Association, who urges thai the benefit thereby derived should be passed on to consumers. The manufacturers have claimed that greater protection would enable them to increase production and ease overhead charges. It would, therefore, involve no charge upon the public. Now they have an opportunity of proving this; and the Canterbury president advises them to make the;best use of it. We can fully endorse this advice; but we cannot follow Mr. Woolf when he further urges pro? hibition of the importation of niGtor- j cars, and that the New Zealand Parliament should take some steps to develop the manufacture here, as the Scullin Government has done in Australia. There are two ways of looking at this question. One is to put motor-cars in the same luxury class as whisky, and levy.a high duty, not to encourage local industry, but to make luxury-buyers • contribute heavily to the revenue. Of course, this view is by no means generally accepted. The motor, in some of its uses, is certainly a luxury, but in others it is just as certainly a modern, necessity. Prohibition, of imports would thus be embarrassing to the utility-users. That aspect we have not space to discuss. * '.«- * The other aspect raised by Mr. Woolf is a prohibitive duty with aview (to local manufacture—sky-high protection. We earnestly hope Par? liament will not adopt this suggestion. The progress of secondary industries in New Zealand depends chiefly on a wise selection being made, so that attention may i;e concentrated upon those manufactures most suitable to the market. Motor manufacture is not an industry which pan be profitably established in a small market. Certainly the Dominion's million and a-half popu-. lation affords a good motor market, but only for the salesmen. If the whole market could be seized by one maker and supplied with-one type of vehicle, it might offer manufacturing possibilities. But such a monopoly is,impossible,' and no manufacturer can hope to meet the demand for dozens of different models and yet produce his goods on competitive terms when his competitors have much more extensive markets. Any attempt, therefore, to force manufacture beyond the point now reached; —assembling and body-building— must prove expensive and ,economically wasteful. In the past secondary industries in New Zealand have suffered from efforts to do the impossible, to establish here industries for, which the market - is too small. We should have learnt the lesson by, now, and should give protection only where it will lead to the most profitable employment of our capital and labour. ■ i ■■