OTHER PAPERS’ OPINIONS.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 142, 22 July 1926, Page 4

OTHER PAPERS’ OPINIONS.

DOMINION INDUSTRIES. 1 The public must not regard with ] unconcern the representations made by the Canterbury Industrial Association as to the condition of the . secondary industries of the Dominion. • Perhaps the case is not such a parlous one on the whole as might be conjured up by some impressionable J citizens on a first reading of the association’s lengthy resolution, but it has 1 been a matter of general knowledge for some time that the position is serious . enough. The Christchurch authority is not the only witness to the fact that many industries are n “ a critical state.” The only essential difference of opinion is as to the efficacy of the remedy proposed by the association, which asks for an addition of not less than 10 per cent, to the duties levied on all manufactured goods imported from overseas, *' to enable the industrialists of the Dominion to hold their own against unfair competition and to enable the standard of wages paid to the workI ers of New Zealand to be main- | tained.” The existing duties stand, I generally speaking, at 20 per cent. I for goods of British origin, 30 per cent, for foreign countries offering reciprocity and 35 per cent, on all other foreign importations. One part of this appeal declares : “It is obvious that the extent of protection received by the manufacturing concerns of the Dominion through the customs tariff is insufficient. The shibboleth, ‘ That the customs tariff combined with the freight charges from overseas countries should be sufficient protection,’ is exploded.” But does not that assume rather much ? The present extent of protection, as the Christchurch Press remarks, may not be sufficient fZr some industries, but that it should be sufficient is by no means an exploded idea, and the onus of proof -falls on the association. Popular sympathy is, or should be, with the secondary industries, and it might agree to special protective measures, in favour of some local manufacturers, but its ac--1 ceptance of the idea of according a > substantial measure of additional ; protection all along .the line.-as a ; matter of national policy would re>i quire argument and levidence of a i much more weighty character than . has yet been adduced. So far as tne attitude of the- press, is concerned, even the boldest friends, of the m ami- * facturers have been advising* them to look in' other directions for their most effective remedies. Scientific re-

search, improvement in the methods of production, and advertisement, are great potential factors. The last mentioned i^~TTot~the-least-important. It surely cannot be claimed that adequate steps are being taken to bring home to New Zealanders the fact that the quality of the locallymanufactured goods challenges the best from overseas. Articles of a firstclass nature made here “ are born to blush unseen simply because nobody knows anything about them, and the manufacturer himself is evidently in the conspiracy of silence.” The salvation of the secondary industries is largely in the hands of the manufac-

turers themselves. But it also rests in a material degree with the general body of .-citizens, which in its buying capacity owes a great deal of amends to the local manufacturers and should be visited with no slight

qualms of conscience in noting the urgent appeal which the Canterbury Industrial Association is making to the Government. After all, the best people to come to the rescue are the consumers.—Marlborough Express.