Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, MAY 25, 1939. THE LOCATION OF INDUSTRIES.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 May 1939, Page 6

Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, MAY 25, 1939. THE LOCATION OF INDUSTRIES.

jYfANY interesting questions are raised at present regarding the expansion of manufacturing industries in New Zealand. In Wellington and other cities, for example, difficulty is being experienced in obtaining -female labour for factories, though in some provincial districts —the Y airarapa amongst the number—inquiry has shown that many girls are available who would accept remunerative and otherwise reasonably attractive industrial employment. This is only one aspect of the position, but it is an aspect of some importance. In the conditions that rule in the Dominion today it is not good national economy to import female workers from Australia, as has been done by some Wellington industrialists, while in other parts of the country there are girls now unplaced who would gladly 7 accept suitable employment if it were offered.

From a very 7 much broader standpoint, however,.the establishment of industries elsewhere than in the main centres of population demands serious attention. Britain and other countries of advanced industrial development, though they still possess horrible examples of slum and Black Country areas, have made considerable strides in the decentralisation of industry. In the extent to which industries in this country 7 are being concentrated chiefly 7 in or in the immediate neighbourhood of the principal cities, it is clear that a bad example is being followed and a good example neglected.

Some industrialists seek to justify this concentration on the ground of economy, but it is reasonably certain that not all the industries located in and about cities are ideally situated from the’standpoint of economy. In the case of industries using weighty materials and dependent on heavy inward and outward consignments, the near neighbourhood of a seaport and railway 7 yards may be highly 7 advantageous, but there are many industries to which the conditions do not apply 7 with anything like the same force.

Immediate working economy, in any 7 event, is not by 7 any means all that has to be taken into account. In these days the question of vulnerability 7 to attack by 7 air or otherwise cannot reasonably be regarded as of negligible importance, though in practice it is apparently being ignored. An announcement was made the other day, for example, that an aircraft factory was to be established at Rongotai. On a number of grounds, including that of vulnerability, it might be thought that Rongotai is one of the worst places in New Zealand in which to establish a factory of the kind.

Taking account of the general social welfare of the people of New Zealand in the immediate and more distant-'future — remembering, too, that the principal purpose of industrial expansion is or should be the advancement of that welfare — the case for the widest possible dispersion of industries is of overwhelming strength. As against the conditions of huddled living'and congestion of transport that have already developed and are going from bad to worse in some of our metropolitan areas—Wellington being a notable example in point—the advantages from the point of view of social welfare of establishing industries in relatively roomy and spacious provincial towns, or in the open countryside, are beyond all question. Almost every amenity that exists in our cities can now be enjoyed in much more open and healthy conditions in the provincial and rural areas of the Dominion. From the, economic standpoint, improved arterial transport, the wide distribution of electric power, and relatively low site values favour the movement .of industrial enterprise away from the cities. At the same time, whatever advantages there are in operating in or near a city must be modified heavily by high rents, rates and other costs peculiar to that location.

There is no question of pitting the interests of the cities against those of provincial and rural areas from any narrow standpoint where the extension and expansion of industry are concerned. The interests which should be considered primarily are those of the people of New Zealand. All who have a responsible part to play in the extension and development of industry ought to be ready to direct their efforts on such lines as will best promote the welfare of the Dominion as a whole. Our administrators, industrialists and others concerned should be the more willing to pursue this policy since it is clear that they must pay enlightened regard to national interests if they wish to pursue the line of true economy.

Economy, in any worthy sense, certainly will not be studied by even approaching in any part of New Zealand the conditions of industrial and housing congestion which still exist on a considerable scale in parts of Britain and some other countries of older development than our own.

What this country needs in order that it may ensure a nationally advantageous development of its secondary industries, which as yet are only at the stage of infancy, is a resolute suppression of drifting ineptitude and parochialism. At the stage that has been reached, narrow and unenlightened parochialism is perhaps nowhere more in evidence than in a jumbled area like Wellington, which has more than begun to pay the penalty for its past neglect of an orderly and rational planning of city and metropolitan development. A small beginning is now being made with planning in the Hutt Valley, but much more than that is needed. Nothing less will adequately meet the case than, comprehensive national and regional planning which will make it possible to rectify the mistakes of the past, avoid their repetition in future, and incidentally guide and direct the location and development of industry on such lines as will best serve the interests and welfare of the Dominion and its people as time goes on. TRENDS IN EUROPE. JT is perhaps not unduly fanciful to assume that the favourable progress reported in negotiations between the Western democracies and Russia has its definite bearing on the course of events in the Polish and East Prussian borderland. As they were reported in the first instance, the incidents in which Polish Customs officials were attacked on frontier posts, and a German ■ citizen was killed, had every appearance of being likely to blaze up into much more serious trouble. In fact, the tension appears to have died down as quickly as it arose. The Polish Foreign Office is reported to consider that the Kalthof incidents have been liquidated and the Danzig Senate, a Nazi body, has given assurances that steps are being taken to guarantee the proper functioning of the Polish Customs in Danzig territory, “including additional police protection for Polish officials.” This is in gratifying and striking contrast to the use made by the Nazis of similar incidents in Austria, the Sndetenland and elsewhere and suggests at least that in spite of the bold talk which has attended the signing of the Halo-German military pact, the dictatorships are impressed by the growing strength of the peace bloc in Europe and particularly by current indications that the democracies and Russia are likely to enter into a firm agreement to take common action against further aggressiom Much as this tentative improvement in the situation is to be welcomed, it is, of course, far too soon to assume that the tide of events in Europe has turned decisively. It is impossible to regard the totalitarian dictatorships as having any other purpose than that of pursuing whatever policy appears to offer them the promise, or prospect of material gain.