INDUSTRIAL PLANS

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21582, 19 November 1941, Page 6

INDUSTRIAL PLANS

POSTWAR DEVELOPMENT MINISTER OUTLINES SCOPE NEW ZEALAND’S ECONOMY ROTORUA, Wednesday Plans for post-war industrial development in New Zealand were discussed by*the Minister of Industries and Commerce, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan. when he opened the annual conference of the New Zealand Manufacturers' Federation at Wairakei last night. The conference will continue until Friday. Among activities being considered and planned, said the Minister, were those to replenish depleted stocks of civilian consumer goods and meet the intensified demand that would arise, to ensure adequacy of supplies of essential raw materials, to develop natural resources still further, to extend activity in linen flax, sugar beet and flax textiles from phormium tenax, to establish an iron and steel industry, and to build ships for coastwise trade, and trawlers instead of minesweepers as at present. Other plans were for the development of new uses for New Zealand products, the increased cultivation of tobacco, the extended manufacture of paper, the production of cellulose products from the Dominion’s forests, and the adaptation of engineering advances from munitions to other avenues of production. Industrial Achievement The Minister said that of the four groups into which the Dominion’s industries were divided the greatest progress had been made in the true manufacturing industries. A total of 53.468 people were engaged in 193435. and production was valued at £31,881,279. By 1939-40 there were 76,665 employees and production was worth £54.726,701. The withdrawal of almost 100,000 men had lessened civilian consumer demand in New Zealand and replaced it with a call for production munitions, equipment, foodstuffs, clothing and footwear. Industry had made a magnificent effort in the face of difficulty and trial. Mr Sullivan said he thought that before the war ended New Zealand would be called upon to make many more adjustments. Still more of the country’s productive capacity might be involved in production directly associated with war.

After the war there might be a vast development of Empire production, and New Zealand would possibly have a further duty of providing food for hungry people. There was sure to be a demand for primary products, particularly meat, butter and cheese. LABOUR FOR LAND PRESIDENT’S SUGGESTIONS WAIRAKEI, Tuesday “It is because I do not want to see 40,000 or 50,000 people engaged on useless public works that 1 urge immediate and serious study of postwar planning,” said Mr C. V. Smith, president of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation, in' his address at the opening of the annual conference at Wairakei tonight. “After seeing what our factories can do in giving useful employment, I cannot credit that New Zealanders would agree to return to a position where the main prospect of employment lay in public works. “No matter what may be the external condition after the war, we must find work for our own people, and you can only do so in two sound ways. You can absorb them in primary production, but not many, or you can absorb some in factory industry, where there t«re tens of thousands of opportunities if the situation is correctly handled. There are also two unsound ways of planning for the future. You can build a nation of Government servants and public workers, or you can depopulate New Zealand.

“One of the troubles of the farmer is that he has to take what he is given for his products, although his price has no relation to his costs. That is a real problem, but I think it can be lessened considerably by departing from his policy of relying entirely on butter, wool, cheese and meat. This country needs a much more diversified programme, more modern and intensive methods, better cheese and bacon, and more attention to other types of produce and their uses.

“The farmer’s second trouble is to secure labour and stop the drift to the towns,” Mr Smith continued. “I suggest that first attention should be paid to wages, living conditions and continuity of employment, so that he can pay better wages, continue to employ men in the off-season, and improve the living conditions of his own farmhouse.”

“Greater transformations in the manufacturing structure of the Dominion has been seen in the past year than in any other similar period in its history,” said Mr Smith. Apart from strict import control, the war was chiefly responsible. Manufacturers had met in a truly magnificent manner the call for added production and for new lines to replace the stoppage of overseas supplies. “The New Zealand manufacturer is largely responsible for the truth of the saying that we do not know there is a war on,” said Mr Smith. “Prices have gone up today, as we would expect, but New Zealandmanufactured goods have increased by only 6.4 per cent since August 1939, while t’ne rise in imported lines has been 23.3 per cent.