N.Z. INDUSTRIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 December 1939, Page 7

N.Z. INDUSTRIES

MATERIAL PROGRESS REVIEW BY MINISTER. I A STORY OF DEVELOPMENT. I (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, December 27. “There is indisputable evidence that our manufacturing industries have progressed to a very material extent in the past. year. Reviewing the various reports one cannot but be impressed with the story of progress and development they reveal." said the Minister of Industries and Commerce. Mr Sullivan, today. One firm engaged in the manufacture of radio sets had increased production from 8000 to 16.000 and had increased its staff by 40 in one month, said the Minister, and the opinion was expressed that the staff, now totalling 143. would eventually reach 300. Fifty operatives found work in the manufacture of wallbodrd. and as early as February the District Placement Officer at Auckland advised he could place upward of 1000 girls without difficulty in the manufacture of rubber requisites for industry and surgical needs. Eighty male and 20 female workers had been given employment in the same factory. The manufacture of cycle tyres had been undertaken as well as a wide range of other products. Among other new activities undertaken in Auckland could be cited the manufacture of braces, caps, men’s clothing of all kinds, biscuits and confectionery. nuts. bolts and wood screws, patterns for shoe-making children’s shoes, and innumerable other commodities. The production ol hair wavers and other appliances was a means of finding work for some 3C persons, and other industries that were established included those for the manufacture of rag dolls, piston rings, wooden toys, plastics, koala and teddy bears, blind cords, art felts and fancy leather work. The manufacture of sports shoes previously imported also had been undertaken, and this applied to several other types of shoes. In the Wellington area there had been a marked expansion in existing industries, and several new ventures were under way. The range of activities undertaken or about to be undertaken included rug making, tile manufacture, soap and toilet preparations, flavouring essences, high-grade stationery, dried fruit, beach sandals, plastic clay for modelling, and clothes pegs. In the Hutt Valley upward of 50 new factories had been erected or were in the course of construction. The manufacture of washing machines was also to be undertaken, and one firm alone had produced 80 per cent of the country’s requirements for all-steel prams. Bakelite, plaster of paris, electrical utilities, screens for motion pictures, transformers, printers’ inks, and many other lines had been produced in new factories or in extensions of existing industries.

Several new footwear factories had been established in Christchurch, including one that turned out some 700 pairs of rubber-soled canvas shoes a day, added Mr Sullivan. A very pleasing feature of the expansion of the footwear industry in Christchurch was the establishment of schools of instruction. One manufacturer of interlock found it necessary to work three shifts to meet the demand, and in the manufacture of farm implements additional employees had been engaged. The manufacture of carpet sweepers had been undertaken, and consideration had been given to the possibility of manufacturing pianos. The homespun tweeds and clothing trades had shown remarkable advances. In Dunedin and in the south the same story was revealed. Among lines undertaken by manufacturers was the making of vermicelli, printers' inks, soft toys, starch and mustard, hockey sticks from Southland beech, waxed wrappers, rubber flooring and mats, snow skis, spoons and forks. In the canned fruit trade the output had been trebled.

"That, briefly, is something of what has been accomplished in the expansion of manufacturing in New Zealand. and. in the aggregate, the number of persons who have' secured remunerative employment must total several thousands more than ever before," said the Minister. "The value of the output and the added value through the processing of raw materials will also show decided increases when the figures are released.”