"AN EYE-OPENER"

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 131, 4 June 1937, Page 5

"AN EYE-OPENER"

LEGISLATIVE CONTROL

VISITOR HAS DOUBTS

"Before I left England I had no idea of the extent of legislative control in New Zealand. It was an eye-opener for me," said Mr. Arthur Green, managing director of the firm of Alex. Cowan and Sons, Ltd., paper makers, London, who is at present at Christchurch during a visit to the Dominion, He told a "Press" reporter on Wednesday that it did not strike him thai New Zealand was a country which would attract manufacturers and those with money to invest. His firm had a factory in Wellington which produced stationery, but it was felt doubtful if any more money should be spent in New Zealand.

"It is a question of how long industry carl carry on standing up to increased charges and high taxation," he said. "One hears everywhere of the difficulties that are being experienced They have been forced home on me from Auckland to Dunedin during conversations with business men, and I have also observed the effect on our own business. But New Zealanders are a sensible people, and, having tried the extreme, will no doubt ease the position as time goes on. Some regulation was necessary, but not to such an extent as has taken place."

Mr. Green said that he wondered if everything possible was being done to help agriculture, which must be the mainstay of the Dominion. The country seemed wonderfully fertile, and with New Zealand's isolation it was difficult to see any very great development out side agriculture. ■