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Hokitika Guardian, 8 September 1922, Page 2

Ax exhibition of local manufactures is to lie 1.01. l in November ami December in the city of Christchurch. An area of ■IO,OOO square feet lias been planned lor the stalls alone. A very successful similar exhibition was held in Wellington last year.* but that to be held in Christchurch will he on a more imposing seale. There will be no sales, no exhibition of names, except on containers of goods, such as jams, condiments, soups, and similar articles. The exhibition will in the main consist of woollens, boots and shoes, confectionery, biscuits, brass and iron work, furniture, hats and. caps, millinery, blouses and underwear, collars and shirts. It will he an industrial exhibition designed to help ahead “the made in New Zealand” articles. And it should succeed admirably. Private accounts indicate that there, has been a large demand for space from manufacturers from one end of the Dominion to tile other. The secondary industries in this country are of great importance, both in the provision of good quality goods and in the avenurs for employment of a most useful character. New Zealand draws its main wealth from the primary products, but the more the people will patronise the local manufactured article, the higher will be the part played in the Dominion’s material progress by the secondary indinl -iei . We haye to bear ip

mind that the Islands do not ciarry a largo population. A million and a quarter people is a handful compared with the population of older settled countries. But for the burden of the war expenditure, small as our population is, New Zealand would occupy an enviable position. The great debt the country has to carry suggests that all avenues of useful production should lie pursued to the fullest extent. The purchase of “made in New Zealand” goods would help in the. relief of the taxation burden, and the Industrial Associations arc on the right line in promoting exhibitions of the character referred to, to bring before the people the possibilities that are to be seized locally to secure special advantages through a. wider trading in local manufacture. Ti c Exhibition deserves to succeed and the best patronage which c-an be extended to it will ensure that result.

Notwjthstanbinu the smallness of tlie population of New Zealand—a million and a quarter—there is still a great ambition on the part of many to see this country become a manufacturing centre in the South Seas. Its wealth at present is derived almost entirely from agriculture, dairying, frozen meat and wool growing, exports of freezing works’ by-products, and, to a limited extent at present, its mineral, timber and fruit export. For all these tbe country is highly favoured in respect to climate, suitability of soil, arid its large forests, and as yet but little prospected mineral resources. The , country, will, it is hoped, derive ccnj siderable benefit from tbe lato adjustI ment of the customs tariff, as also from the reciprocal treaty with Australia. Seeing that prices for primary products I are so sadly dislocated, any useful excursion into manufacturing ventures is ito be welcomed. Immigrants are being ! brought into the country to help fill the waste places, and to attract the right class of worker, it would be well to have available more openings in useful trades. Now that electricity is being provided so extensively in various parts of tbe Dominion, ensuring ample cheap power readily at band, there should be several important industrial developments. The experience about Christchurch in this respect lias been very promising. New industries have been established and old ones extended by tbe facilities afforded by a ready to . hand power. The suggestion of the exhibition at Christchurch rather fits in with the advantages of applied electric power and will bo an object lessen to visitors who can inspect tlie reality of the work. Westland is very barren in the way of Toca] manufactures yet in woodworks etc., it should take a leading place. With the forests so adjacent, and the means for export at hand through Arthur’s Pass tunnel, there should he the opening for sash and door factory on some scale. With the facilities of material ready to hand and transport to East Coast markets, local works should lx? able to compete with outside competition and lend to the establishment of an important industry, affording increased employment all the year round.