OUR INDUSTRIES

Taranaki Daily News, 12 September 1919, Page 5

OUR INDUSTRIES

PROMOTING THEIR DEVELOPMENT. DISCUSSION ON INDUSTRIES REPORT. STATEMENTS BY LEADERS. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night The Houbb resumed at 7.30. Mr. Hornsby opened the debato on the report brought down by the Industries Committee. The committee had traversed the Dominion from end to end, and the report was the work of men who had been and seen. They, to some extent, were surprised at the lack of industries in the country and the latent wealth awaiting development. What was wanted was a national system of hydroelectric power to enable that development to take place. Regarding coal supplies, he said the committee regretted it was not always possible to rely on official reports, which were mostly out of date, and there was a tendency on the part of officials to strnddle across the path of progress. There were untold coal supplies in the Dominion, and the committee came, to the conclusion that the best way to work the coal deposits to advantage, and at the same tijne to attract good workmen to the mjtoea, was to nationalise the whole of the mines. A national ferry servide Was advocated by the committee, the sailors and others engaged therein b&ng placed on the same footing as those employed in the railway service. There was a complete housing scheme supplied in the report, and stress was laid on the need for scientific research, in connection with our industries. Our. opportunities in this respect had been sadly neglected. Many of our finest scientists had left our shores to enrich other countries with their researches. He recommended the careful study of the results of the com-' mittee's investigations. SIR JOSEPH WARD'S VIEWS.

Sir Joseph Ward said it was particularly pleasing to him to find that the committee had endorsed the policy to be brought down in 1910 for the establishment of hydro-electric power. Had there hot been a lack of enterprise on the part of the House then there would have been two of the schemes proposed by him in active operation by now. He approved of these large schemes being started simultaneously, because it was unfair for one part of the Dominion to have the benefit of power developed from our national reßowces while other parts had not the same advantage. He heartily endorsed the proposals in coohnection with the establishment of the Bpard, of Industries, Trade, and Commerce. Such a board should recommend what legislation was necessary to check profiteering, and to control trade in many channels in the interests of the people at large. He thought the, report was inclined to recommend a large protective tariff. This he thought dangerous if applied all round. He recognised our industries required protecting, but we never had what ho called a "stoppage" tariff in this country, except in two classes of clothing, and to adopt such now would endanger them. One of the first things we must consider was maintaining the revenue of the Dominion. lie favored preference in trade within the Empire. Ho did not think We could confine our trade within the Empire, but we must protect ourselves against dumping by foreign countries which employed cheap Labor and kept up high tariffs against us. He deprecated frequent alterations in the customs tariff, and did not like the proposal set up by the Tariff Board, which would be constantly meddling with duties under the pretence of removing anomalies. It would be better that anomalies should remain fur some years than that there should be continued uncertainty as to the duties. Concerning coal, he was fully satisfied that the only solution of the question was that the State should own the mines and put them under independent control. The employees should be State employees, who should be made to feel that they would lose the advantage of Ruperannua- . tion if they yielded to the persuasions of professional agitators to strike, The housing scheme outlined by the committee was admirable, and must be pushed on. There was only one way to keep Capital and Labor in harmony, and that was to put the big reforms which the new era demanded into operation at once. We must reverse many of our methods in connection with Labor. Then we would get fewer strikes and increased production. One thing must be done. We must provide four millions for the housing of the people. During the next seven years we should spend twenty-one millions on housing, hydro electricity, railways, and education. This expenditure was at the rate of seven millions for three years, and he said emphatically that if we were going to deal with these problems We must do it comprehensively, for we can do many things in peace time we could not dc in war time. He was glad to see What the committee had to say regarding primary industries. Regarding wheat growing, he had come to the conclusion that we could not go on growing wheat at artificial price 3 The farmers in New Zealand must grow and breed things that pay best. That being so, we must depend on wheat supplies from Australia, a country which grows wheat in enormous surplus quantities. He warmly approved of the proposals regarding scientific research, but he did not approve of the idea of starting Government trawlers in support of the fishing industry, as all had been failures in tho past. He believed the Board of Trade should have power to regulate freights overseas, from the Dominion. If we went in for State steamers we would require anything from ViO to 100 steamers, costing about forty millions. For the present, he thought it sufficient to have our freight rates regulated. He believed in reciprocity in trade as a general principle, and we ought to be in a position to have reciprocal trade with the United States of America as one of the means of welding one of the links in the chain joining up the AngloSaxon people. Speaking of the report as a whole, he thought it the most sensible report of any commission he had yet read in New Zealand.

MR. MASSEY'S SPEECH. Mr. Massey complimented the committee on the splendid report which they had brought down. He was unable to deal with the multifarious subjects dealt with in the report, but one of the moat important of these was hydro-electric power development. He did not agree with Sir Joseph Ward that difficulties were placed in the way of his Government which prevented them carrying out their schemes, but the House thought | it wise to go on with the Lake Coleridgu «Bhtm.B. whleh, he was glad to My,

brought the whole subject out of the experimental stage. Now we knew what to do, and the thing to do was to supplement the coal supplies by this new power. There was no doubt we had an abundance of coal in the Dominion, but the fact was that our supplies were decreasing rather than increasing. Nationalisation of the mines had been put forward as a remedy for the existing troubles. HeWas not Bure it was the remedy, but if investigation proved it to be- so, by all means let us nationalise the mines, with all that this involved. On the subject of shipping, he outline! steps Ije had taken in England to secure shipping, for the Dominion. He regretted that those in oharge of these matters in England had to deal with more urgent matters, and he had not been able to do as much as he would like in this direction. He did not advise buying or building our own ships iat present, because, the cost was too high. The t&no was coming when we should have a nja.il service to England through tho Panama Canal, doing the trip in thirty dayß, but he would not interfere with the Vancouver trade, as lie thought the more, links we had with other parts of the Empire the better. Then there was the great question of reconstruction. He admired the policy /of self-reliance adopted by the Government in the United States after the Cifil War, and we could well afford to, their example. The housing question was a serious difficulty, and it had to be faced. "He did not agree that we should spend four millions on it, but we must do something, and do it energetically. The Labor Department was doing something, and he thought the local bodies should do more than they had done. Harbor boards should be included amongst the local bodies, and he proposed to ask the House to amend the Act in that direction.

Speaking of the Island trade, he declared that we neglected this trade, which should be extended, especially with. Fiji. He did not suggest that the colony should come under New Zealand, but we should have some reciprocal trading arrangement with those islands. He regretted the other islands were in- much the same position, and he considered the trouble rested upon the inadequate shipping. He now urged upon the British authorities the need for some better arrangement with France for the government of the New Hebrides Islands, which were most fertile, and ,in time to com'; would carry a large whit* population.

On the subject of reciprocal trade, he entirely agreed with the recommendations of the committee. Whereyor it was possible, preference should be given to our own Empire. In like manner, our own people should be indviced to settle within the Empire as much bb possible, and one of the most peeded reforms to encourage this end was the abolition of the double income tax and a moderate system of immigration to supply the needed labor here.

j Concerning wheat growing, he questioned if Australia could grow it cheaper than we. So far as quality was concerned, Canterbury and North Otago were probably the best in the world. In a country like this, with such land, it was a very unsatisfactory state of affairs that we should have to import wheat supplies, as had been done during the. past Ave years. The reason was just this: The farmer, as a business man, would grow what paid him best. The last four or five seasons had not been favorable for. wheat growing. , Cither j farniing had paid better. If we depended on Australia what would we do in the | case of a drought, which sometimes lasted; [for two or three seasons? One of the questions to be faced in the future was how to induce farmers in wheat growing districts to grow sufficient for cur own requirements. i A commencement should be made to encourage our iron ores industry. There were immense quantities of ore in the Dominion, and there was no. reason why we should not endeavor to absorb som,e of these products in our Own industries The Premier concluded by reminding the House that we should be entering upon a new era, in which it was necessary that Labor and Capital should come more closely together. He hoped, to give legislative effect to some of the proposals in the report, which would lead to the spirit of greater co-operation which was I so essential to our progress. ! MR. WILKINSON REPLIES. I Mr. C. A. Wilkinson (chairman of the committee) defended the new powers given to the Board of Trade, because, he said, a great deal of discontent throughout the Dominion arose from the high prices and exploitation, which could not be suppressed by the present powers. The committee felt it would be better to give too much power rather than too little. No high protective traiff was recommended. All that was intended was that we must give reasonable protection to our industries. The committee had gone carefully into the fishing industry, and had come to the conclusion that if anything were done it must be done in n large way, using the best class of trawlers, Only in this way could cheap fish be supplied to the people of the whole Dominion.

Hydro-electric power was the key to all industries, and proof of this was that Christchurch, which got ten years' start over all the other towns in this direction, was easily the most active industrial centre in the Dominion. The customs tariff was obsolete, and should be revised by the Government at the earliest possible date. It now consisted mostly of anomalies.

In connection with many of the recommendations in. regard to industrial and social improvement, the committee had not only shown what could be done, but how it should be done.

Various. points in' the report were emphasised by Messrs Poole, Holland, and EU.'when the. debate was adjourned till next Wednesday. The House rose at 12.25.