HELPING INDUSTRIES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 899, 17 February 1930, Page 11

HELPING INDUSTRIES

SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE

WIDE REFERENCE Special to THE SUN WELLINGTON, Today. On March 3 the Parliamentary Committee which was set up to investigate the secondary industries of the Dominion will set out on its tour. It will consider coach and motor-body building, engineering, flax-milling, rope and twine making, fruit preserving and jam-making, and the woollen and clothing industries. The committee consists of the Minister of Industries and Commerce, the Hon. J. B. Donald, and Messrs. H. R. Jenkins, A. Harris and D. G. Sullivan. They will visit the various factories and Investigate the following points: Methods making for greater efficiency in plant and personnel, hours of labour, working conditions, piecework and methods of payment of wages, efficiency of workmen, power employed, standardisation, costing systems, efficiency in management and supervision, relations between employers and employees, and methods of marketing. Evidence will be called where necessary on such points as whether goods are. being imported in sufficiently largfe quantities to prevent the proper development of the local industry; whether prices of imported goods are below prices at which similar goods can be profitably produced in New Zealand: whether such competition comes from countries where the conditions are so different from those in this country as to render competition unfair; what steps should be taken, either by the manufacturers themselves or by the Government, to make the industry more efficient and to bring about its proper development. The report is to be presented on or before July 1, 1930.

GOOD SHOULD RESULT

“COUNTRY IS WAKING UP” CURE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT "Under the auspices of the Manufacturers’ Federation a meeting of the presidents of the various Manufacturing Associations throughout the Dominion and also representatives of industries will be held at Wellington on February 24 to consider various points in regard to the investigations of the Parliamentary Committee,” said Mr. G. Finn, president of the Auckl;.*id Manufacturers’ Association, this morning. Personally he thought that the committee had hardly allowed themselves sufficient time in which to carry out a thorough investigation of the industries of the country. It would set out on March 3 and would complete its tour of investigation by April 23. Mr. Finn hopes that a great deal of good will result from the tour. 11l addition to the actual value of the report the great publicity that the inquiry would bring about would be very helpful in assisting to bring about realisation of the urgent need of helping local industries. Eight days will be spent in Auckland, where industrial conditions in regard to woollen mills, the . manufacture of clothing, jam making, engineering works, and body-building would be investigated. “Wo are endeavouring to have every industry represented in the scope of the inquiry,” said Mr. J. Findlay, secretary of the Auckland Manufacturers* Association. He thought that a report that should prove of great value to New Zealand industries should result from the investigations. There was no doubt that public interest was being awakened, said Mr. Findlay. People were beginning to talk about the need for encouraging New Zealand industries, and the messages from the late Governor-General and the Prime Minister had also helped to stress the importance of the subject. BLESSING IN DISGUISE He thought that in one respect the prevalence of unemployment was turning out to be a good tiring tor the country. There was no doubt but that it was this state of affairs that had awakened the politicians and also the public to a realisation that the secret of national prosperity was the encouragement of secondary industry. “It may turn out to be a blessing in disguise,’ said Mr. fma“in the past,” continued Mr. Findlay, “there has been too much talk about things that ’can't be done.’ People were quite sure that the country could not manufacture just as well as foreign countries.” But now everybody realised that something had to be done, and the attempt was being made. The quality of New Zealand-made goods was as good as any in the world, and. in some lines, vastly superior. The “Buy New Zealand-made Goods" campaign was also having a good effect, and as far as industry generally was concerned the position looked much brighter than it did a few years ago. “The question of how to solve unemployment had exercised the best brains in the cquntry, but very little had' been achieved, except that the majority eventually arrived at the conclusion that buying New Zealand-made goods would provide a great deal more employment for New Zealand workers.” WIVES CAN HELP Mr. Findlay mentioned in regard to the Manufacturers’ Association’s.campaign that pay envelopes with suitable messages printed on them regarding the benefits that would accrue to New Zealanders as a result of buying goods made in the Dominion were now being issued to a number of firms. Eighty per cent, of purchases are made by women, said Mr. Findlay, and they wanted the wives of the wage earners to help. “Ask for ar.d buy New Zealandmade goods,” reads the message on one envelope that was shown to a SUN representative. “An extra 5s a household a week spent on New Zealand-made goods would provide work for an additional 8,000 workers.”