AFTER WAR PROBLEMS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17280, 22 September 1916, Page 7

AFTER WAR PROBLEMS.

BOARD OF INDUSTRIES ACTIVE. PRELIMINARY PUBLIC MEETING. FREETRADE AND PROTECTION DISCUSSED. There iras n gratifyingly large audience at the Chamber of Commerce last night to hear the programme of the new Board of Industries put forward by its leading members. The invitation had been issued to the representatives of all classes of the community, and among those present were employers, •workers, commercial men, and even professional men. The Mayor (Mr H. Holland) presided, and on the platform wore several members of the Canterbury Industrial Association, the body which had • promoted tho new board, and Dr Thacker, M.P., and Mr H. G. Ell, M.P. An apology for absence was received, among others, from tho Hon G. W. Russell.

The Mayor said that the meeting had been called to discuss a question of tho most vital interest to the Dominion, namely, the fostering of local industry. There were those who still believed in buying in the cheapest mar-

ket and selling in the clearest, hut he thought that that policy had heen exploded, and that the war should bring all parts of the Empire into closer touch. The meeting had his warmest support, and he hoped that its effects would he far-reaching. He asked the citizens to take no selfish view of the problem, hut to ponder deeply whatever the speakers might say to them. OBJECTS OF THE BOARD. Mr A. W. Beaven, the first speaker, said that the Board of Industries had for its chief object the fostering of Dominion industries in a much more comprehensive way than had been possible under the Industrial Association.

There was no gainsaying that the Empire’s industries required protection. A revision of New Zealand’s tariff was long overdue. The revision would embrace an Empire tariff and it was the duty of tho board to educate public opinion, and bring tho things about which it believed in. Canada had already started a campaign to double its population within three years of the close of tho war, and New Zealand must bestir itself as well. Turning to tho detailed objects of the board, Mr Beaven said that it was essential above all to promote the growth and development of pastoral, farming, dairying arid agricultural interests. Tho farmers were agitating for increased duties on wheat, and the board might usefully approach this subject aloug with the kindred subject of an increased duty on imported agricultural implements. The development of the manufacturing industries, also, was a direct appeal, in view of. the large number of soldiers who would* return to the Dominion after the war. But above all, the principal aim of the board would bo to promote and maintain tlio national standard of living, in which New Zealand had been able to steer clear of tho unfortunate contrast of poverty and wealth.

THE MIDDLE COUR-SE. Tho farmer was merely the first producer, Mr Beaven said, but the man who worked it up and distributed it was as much a producer as the; farmer. Nobody would begrudge the protection afforded to the farmer and tho natural resources, but New. Zealand had gone beyond tho primary industries, and it was time that tho secondary industries received the encouragement they deserved. (Applause.) Personally be was not an advocate of very high protection, which would lead to monopoly. Tho board desired to work out the middle course that would be for the benefit of the whole Dominion. Butthe work must be done at once. The war would be over 'in twelve months, which was little enough time in which to frame a tariff. Direct relations weald have to bo established with the Government to secure cheap capital for the development of free industries. They must avoid the situation by which Germany had taken advantage oi Di’GGtrado England to store up vast wealth and munitions. (Applause.) THE PRESIDENT’S SPEECH. Mr J. A. Frostick, president of tlio Board of Industries, asked the audience to consider - the question with an open mind. Ho had heard of one man who had decided to come to the meeting only in time to ask a question. (Laughter.) The expansion of industries was a matter of graver importance at the present time than had ever faced the country before. Several times tbo people had been asked to view tho matter of employment on a national basis, but individual interests had always overshadowed it. Tbo country would be prosperous in accordance with the equal division of its wealth. The board was not a class institution. It embraced all classes in the one desire to make a nation. In tho past the Dominion’s industries had been used as a stop-gap, to bo used very “patriotically” whenever outside supplies were not available. Tbo industries had drifted, and with the exception of cabinetmaking had failed in the last few years to keep pace with, the growth of population. FIRST OF MANY MEETING'S.

Mr Frostick declared, amid applause, that the meeting should bo only the first of a great many designed to educate tho public on a matter of national importance. If it could bo

shown that its operations were going to injure tho Dominion in any way, steps would bo taken, ns far as was humanly possible, to avoid it. The board pleaded, as Mr Ballanco bad pleaded twenty years ago, for “ national self-reliance,” but so far from tho Government taking a firm stand it had followed tho line of least resistance, and had done that which was expedient rather than right, until just before tho war tho public debt of Now Zealand was six times as great per head of population ns the public debt of tho Old Country. The wealth of the country was being spent in a manner which, if not stopped, would lead to serious financial difficulties, and if they wero to take their proper place among the people of tho world they must build up reserves from which to meet their national obligations. NO CALL FOR PESSIMISM. Thero was no need, Mr Frostick said, to approach the matter in any spirit of pessimism. Canada was already facing tho problem, and from' tho “Globo” of St John ho was able to quoto an appeal for cool-hoadcdness and quiet consideration. Tho old order was changing, and it remained for the community to say whether it was going to go on importing its £2-1,000,000 worth of goods regardless of the industrial claims of the 00,000 •or SO,OOO men who had fought the battles of tho nation. Mr Frostick quoted freely from “ The Round Table,” indicating that the consolidation of the Empire in an Empire Parliament did nob mean freetrade within the Empire. Tho exploitation of labour by capital must cease, but tho vicious “ ca’ canny” tendency in 'skilled and unskilled labour must disappear. Mentally and physically, •New Zealanders could tako their place alongside tho best in tho world, aud he had no hesitation in expressing tho opinion that there was no country on earth better suited to industrial expansion than New Zealand. Germany had sought to obtain industrial supremacy,, and the other nations had failed to realise the danger until Germany mistakenly sought to thrust her will on the world by military means. Germany’s great anxiety now was not So much her military future as that sho must start her industrial processes afresh. But she still possessed the organising ability, and ho had little faith in any scheme of the Allies for protection against German advancement. Various differences of temperament and national affairs would mean the breakdown of any such scheme, and the question was what tho separate units of the British Empire would do to protect themselves.

FREETRADE AND PAUPERISM. Some advocated freetrade within tho Empire, Mr Frostick said, but that was impossible, as Mr Asquith and Mr Lloyd George iiad admitted, as being certain to bring the conditions of all tho working peoplo down to the lowest level. I’'roe trade was a catch phrase, and what had it done for England? It had created many merchant princes and financial institutions, but at tho same time it had crushed down numberless peoplo to poverty, and iu the last census there were proved to bo 10,2bu,u00 people who earned less than £4B per year, while over half tho wage-earners lived below tho poverty line. Ho had boon amazed to z - ead that a mooting of labour men in Christchurch had declared to a deputation of farmers, who had urged a tariff on grain, that they were freetraders. If so, they ware destroying tho foundations of their present prosperity. Freetrade in England was dying, and dying hard. From one of the Toil Commandments of commercial Germany they could borrow the advice, “ Never forget that when you purchase a foreign-made article, although it may only cost a penny, you diminish tho fortunes of your own country by your act.”

CANADA’S PROSPERITY. Canada, in 1910, had 68,436 manufacturing establishments, representing an investment of £513,409,1X10, am. employing 1,030,406 persons (or more than ono in seven of the population), receiving in wages £99.180,400, and turning out articles valued at £479,600,000, not 'including £8,000,000 from dairy produce. This wealth was kept within tho country, but not by freetrade. He sincerely hoped that New Zealand’s industries had boon based as firmly as Canada's. (Applause.) The United States had built up her prosperity by a protective tariff until she and a surplus of £228,000,000 of exports over imports, while her internal domestic exchange reached tho enormous sum of £80,000,000. Little Belgium had an export surplus of £143,000,000. New Zealand was eminently fitted to create tho wealth that led to financial independence. New Zealand had made some progress_already. Its breadwinners totalled 45 per cent ol the total population, but of these 18.59 per cent were primary producers, and 26.46 per cent were in the industries of tho country. It was time to consider a co-operation of industries and a mutual dependence and support, undefr which no man could be independent of the labour of his fellow men. It was a matter not of sentiment, but of business, for New Zealand could certainly carry a population of 10.000,099, calling for £150,000,000 to feed them ancl £50,000,000 to clothe them. They must lay the foundations truly and well.

BURDEN OF AVAR. <•< What is the real factor that is enabling tlio Allies to last out a war of endurance ? n Mr Frostick was asked. “It is tlio resources of freetrade that have enabled us to bear strain oi this unprecedented struggle.” “There never was a greater fallacy, Mr Frostick replied. Freetrade, lo said, had never won a victory- It was a one-sided arrangement, which notation but England bad followed. England had becomo the dumping ground of all the other nations’ surplus manufactures. It was England’s savings over many years, and not freetrade, that was winninc tlio war- Millions of Britain’s best citizens had beeji lost to tho Old Country, and of the 45,000,000 who remained 041.604 were returned as paupers and 967,071 were receiving State aid, the lowest of which was Is and the highest ss. In 1913 the cost of keeping the paupers, irrespective of pensioners, was £17,784,000. Over a third of tlio whole population were icceiving less than 18s Gel a week, and 8.81 per cent were receiving less than 30s a week. He was sure that New Zealand was not going to repeat all those conditions by adopting freetrade. A Voice: AVo know all about that. Mr Frostick: You didn’t know the figures, or you would not have tho conscience to say that.

Mr Frostick added that protectionist America, with a population of 93,500,000, including tlio black races, had only 85,050 paupers, or less than .09 per cent. Protectionist France spent Is l£d per head of population on her paupers; Britain 7s lOd. Freetrade math! paupers, and he was determined to the best of his ability to see that New Zealand did not get its boots in Japan or its clothing in China. If any freetrader desired those boots or clothes, let him live among his friends. (Applause.) BOARD’S SCHEME APPROVED.

Mr J- Keir moved—“ That this meeting of Christchurch citizens, representing all classes in tho community, cordially approves and will heartily i upport' the scheme submitted by tho New Zealand Board of Industries. It is considered that, with proper safeguards, the proposals aro sound in principle, and must ultimately bo for tlio general welfaro of tho Dominion.” Air A. AV. Jamieson seconded tho motion. Speaking to an amendment—“ That tlio meeting should be adjourned to hear tho other side -Mr G. Simpson

said that Mr Frostick, in discussing Franco and England, had not dealt with the ownership of the land. The amendment lapsed, and the t otion was carried by a largo majority. Mr H. J. Nightingale raised his voico in opposition to the speakers, and quoted from Melbourne protectionist politicians to show that the state of the workers in that city was deplorable. A hearty laugh was raised when Mr Nightingale had to concede that bis quotations were twenty-three years oldA hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Mr Frostick on the Mayor’s motion, and a voto of thanks to the Mayor closed tho meeting.