AUCKLAND HOLDS THIRD OF INDUSTRY OF DOMINION

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 115, 5 August 1927, Page 3

AUCKLAND HOLDS THIRD OF INDUSTRY OF DOMINION

FALLING PRICES OBSCURES PRODUCTIVENESS (From Our Resident Reporter.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. Industrial development in New Zealand is comprehensively traced by the Government Statistician in a review of the general position. He shows that 85 per cent, of the Dominion’s industrial workers are situated in the Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago provincial districts. Auckland claims 33 per cent, of the total, with Wellington, Canterbury and Otago following with 22, 17 and 13 per cent, respectively. In view of the substantial increases in the capital utilised in industry (as represented by the value of land, buildings, plant, and machinery), he says, the motive-power, the amount paid as salaries and wages, and the number of employees engaged, it is at first glance surprising that the volume of production as indicated by the cost of raw material operated upon the total value of products show relatively slight increases only. “This apparently parodoxical position is brought about by the fall in prices during 1925-26 in the primary industries, viz., butter, cheese, frozen meat, etc. Approximately £28,000,000 of the total £52,000,000 cost of raw materials is credited to the butter and cheese and meat-freezing industries, while the same two industries account for approximately £34,000,000 out of the total value of products, £85,000,000. It is patent, therefore, that the figures for these industries colour pretty strongly the total figures, and tend to obscure the position in other industries. “The increase of 243 in the total number of factories is accounted for principally in the following industries: Motor and cycle engineering, 82; butter and cheese, 73; furniture-making, 25; engineering (generally), 19; printing, 14; electric supply, 14; sawmilling, 11; concrete-block and fibrousplaster making, 11; and clothing, 10. The increase recorded for the butter and cheese industry is rather more apparent than real; it is due to the fact that the 1925-26 figures represent the number of factories, whereas the figures for previous years are based on the unit of ownership. ‘The total value of products a head of mean population in 1925-26 (£60.88) was 1.55 per cent, lower than the figure for the previous year. It is perhaps significant that the same figure an employee dropped from £1,046.69 in 1924-25 to £1,038.03 in 1925-26, a decrease of 0.86 per cent. “The figures given in respect of the added value a head of mean population and an employee are, from the point of view of industrial production, considerably better criteria than those just quoted; although declines were recorded for both figures relating to the added value in 1925, the decreases were relatively much slighter than those recorded for the total value of production. The figures recorded a head of mean population and an employee for 1925-26 were £23.30 and £397.23 respectively.”