The Daily News. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1919. INDUSTRIES COMMITTEE'S REPORT.

Taranaki Daily News, 1 September 1919, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1919. INDUSTRIES COMMITTEE'S REPORT.

The report of the Industries Committee of the House of Bepresentatives, which was presented to Parliament on Friday, is one of the most important documents that has ever been made public in the Dominion. Prom first to last it bears the impress of sane, intelligent thought, and a thorough grasp of the numerous subjects dealt with, while there is a gratifying business-like tone, indicating that the members of the Committee had been wisely chosen, and that the guiding hand of the chairman (Mr. C. A. Wilkinson, member for Egmont) had been of great service. The most striking feature of the report is the straightforward way in which the various subjects are dealt with from a viewpoint of national welfare, and on that account the recommendations are all the more valuable. The greatest care has clearly been taken to sift and value the voluminous evidence that was tendered to the Committee, while the conclusions arrived at are temperate, practical, and mostly convincing. This is evident in the recommendations relating to the dairy industry, in which the necessity for a dairy school where factory managers and (assistants can receive

scientific training takes a prominent place in the Committee's proposals. The science of dairying and the manufacture of its products have become of prime importance, not only on account of the need for greater production, but also by reason of the urgency to meet competition in the various markets, and to derive the highest possible return for the capital and labor invested.in the most arduous of our industries. The old order must give, way to the new in which science will play a prominent part, especially in view of the probable developments of by-products. The advantage of the factory staff obtaining certificates according to their proficiency and assuring for the shareholders far more valuable services than are possible under present conditions are manifest, while the provision of facilities for research work would be of great advantage to the industry, particularly as to the manufacture of rennet, and the elimination of all waste. Another point that should commend itself to dairymen is the need stressed by the committee for increasing the yield of butter-fat by raising the present average of IGllbs to at last 2001bs, whereby £2,700,000 would be gained. The committee point out that many herds are producing the higher average, while others have risen to 400. The committee therefore recommends the extension, as much as possible of the testing system, the dairy companies paying a portion of the salary of the official testers on the lines indicated in the report. Another recommendation that will meet with general approval in Tarnnaki is that the Consolidated Fund should bear the co,st of equalising the price paid for export butter, and that placed on the local market. It should never have been otherwise, and the past attitude of the coalition Government on this question has been hard to undei'stand. Equally businesslike is the proposal that the Government should purchase the patent rights held here for the manufacture of casein, dried milk and sugar of milk, so that these articles may be made by all on equal terms. It is quite. conceivable that the committee found the subject of noxious weeds a difficult one to cope with, but they point out that the demand is imperative for legislation to! deal with the spread of the evil, and to protect those districts in which the trouble has not been so great. Their proposal to create, "weed districts" in which it shall be an offence to permit the seeding of specified noxious weeds is on the drastic side and likely to create opposition, in spite of the right of appeal, but the farmers in those districts will benefit in the end by the higher value of their land. There still remains the menace from reserves, native lands and unoccupied Crown lands, as well as railway lands. It is obviously unfair that the settlers who have cleared their property of noxious weeds should have to suffer by the neglect of their neighbours. In Taranaki the dairying industry is paramount, and it is evident that the Committee wore actuated by the desire to promote the best interests of the dairy farmers, whose co-operation and support in raising the industry to a higher and more profitable plane is taken for granted. There are many other features of the report that are worthy of notice as opportunity offers. Meanwhile the committee may be accorded praise for the able and thorough way in which their work has been carried out. It is an honest and intelligent effort to improve the industries of the country at a time when reconstruction is being entered upon with the object of recovering from the great financial strain and bringing about increased prosperity. Its work shows the necessity for the creation of a Minister for Industries and Commerce, without any other ministerial burdens. If the right man were available—and the chairman of the committee would fill the bill to a nicety were he to reconsider his decision to "pull out" of politics—to inspire atod direct his subordinates he would, in a few years, lift New Zealand to a level of development and production at present only dreamed of.