Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1939. SUPPORT FOR INDUSTRIES.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 February 1939, Page 6

Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1939. SUPPORT FOR INDUSTRIES.

A CAMPAIGN in support of New Zealand industries announced x bv the Prime Minister —a campaign in which he proposes to enlist the active co-operation of his colleagues and other members of his party —presumably will be directed largely to inducing the people’ of the Dominion to extend and enlarge the habit of buying goods produced in their own country. This is an entirely excellent and commendable objective. If the facts were as well and widely appreciated as they ought to be, no difficulty whatever would be experienced in finding an immediate market for all the goods that are produced by efficient methods and at reasonable cost within the Dominion.

It is complained at times that there is a certain amount of prejudice against New Zealand goods and that some of them actually sell better when their origin is concealed than when it is openly declared. Why this state of affairs should exist it is not easy to understand, for there are many kinds of New Zealand goods that will bear comparison with those produced in any part of the world. In any ease it is certain that an understanding of the position, as it extends, will not only make New Zealanders increasingly eager to buy goods produced in their own country, but will give rise to more and more insistent' demands for the greatest extension of New Zealand industry that is practicable.

A very hopeful move in the direction of industrial expansion was foreshadowed recently by the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr Sullivan) when he stated that he intended to institute a continuous survey of industry—a survey the results of which will be made available to industry as a whole.

An inspection of factories in the Dominion has convinced the Minister that many imports, especially from countries which buy little or nothing from New Zealand, gould be dispensed with, either by developing processes here, or by finding substitutes. For example it has been found that certain classes of animal hair required in manufacturing brushwaie ate produced in New Zealand, exported to countries in which they are partly processed and then reimported as material for New Zealand manufactures. No doubt practices of this kind have arisen for which it would be impossible to find any economic or other justification. In many branches of development in this country there have been and are elements of haphazard growth and undoubtedly it will be well worth while to institute a. methodical scrutiny of industry with a view to opening up new fields of profitable productive enterprise.

Our shortcomings in industrial enterprise are due in part to an ingrained tendency, common here and in a great many other countries, to pursue routine ways and take things as we find them. An investigation of neglected opportunities in this category certainly need not imply any harmful plunge into economic nationalism. In the extent to which we are importing goods or materials that we might advantageously manufacture or process for ourselves, we are setting needlessly narrow limits to our total production, and, at an ultimate view, to our total trade as well.'

A considerable amount of nonsense is talked about the dangers of a country like New Zealand falling into the errors of economic nationalism. We. are bound to import goods in return for the products we export, save in the extent to which we pay, with a proportion of these exports, debt and other charges or repay external debt. There is not the slightest prospect of our trade being cut down or limited otherwise than by the capacity of overseas markets open to our products.

It is perfectly possible, however, to superimpose upon our existing economic organisation and development an expansion of secondary industries which may be expected, if it is wisely planned and directed, to lead to a considerable increase in total production and to a progressively more effective employment of our working population. It is, of course, advantageous in many instances to import goods which are thus obtained more cheaply than if they were .manufactured within our own borders. There are definite limits, however, to our ability to pay for imports and these limits by no means coincide with those that are imposed, on internal production and exchange.

At present import, regulation holds the centre of the stage and many detail questions of an acutely controversial character are raised. Whatever detail adjustments may be attempted or made, however, no other policy is reasonably open to this country than that of exchanging its exports for imports—allowance being made always for the necessity of meeting external debt and other charges.

It is to be emphasised that the expansion of local industries does not imply a reduction in the total volume of trade, though it may easily have the effect, of moving trade out of some channels into others. There is for practical purposes no other limit to Ihe range and volume of total imports than the ability to pay for them and where we find it profitable to manufacture or process for ourselves something that is now imported, this will only mean, in normal course, that something else will be imported in place of the imports that are no longer needed.

The essential aim in expanding local industries should be to select the most advantageous opportunities for new productive enterprise that are available. The necessary process of selection should be assisted and facilitated greatly by the comprehensive investigation which the Minister of Industries and Commerce proposes to institute.