NEW ZEALAND'S FACTORIES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 295, 13 December 1899, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND'S FACTORIES.

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, this day.

It has been asserted in some of the Opposition journals that, while between 1886 and 1891,. before the Liberal Ministry took office, the number of factories in the colony increased by 308, the increase during the fiye succeeding years under Liberal. administration was only 205. This, like many other similar statements emanating from Opposition sources, is fallacious. The explanation is that between 1885 and 1891 there was a boom in flax milling, and the number of hands employed in the industry was 3204, but, during the five following years, the flax industry was under a'cloud, and many of the mills ceased operations. So severe was the depression that 2657 hands were discharged, representing about 220 mills.

If the Opposition organs attribute the falling oil* of any particular branch of industry during the reign of the Seddon Government ,to maladminis- ■ tration, to be logical they must,-pari passu, give that Government the credit of any increases in the number of industries that have occurred in the same period. We are told that the ■ value of the exports of manufactured 'goods, including dressed flax, declined ifrom £253,919 in 1888 to £204,252 in 11897, which is put forward as a proof of the improper restraints Upon capij tal imposed by Liberal legislation. 'But deducting the sum of £201,720, 1 representing the decline in the. flax I industry, from the tota. decrease in j the value of manufactured goods ex|ported, the fact is at once apparent that there must have been a very large increase under other industrial heads. During the period 1891-96 the number of hands employed in factories increased from 25,633 to 27,389. There has also been a corresponding increase in plant and machinery, in horse power employed, and in the j value of our products. W^ile the | gross amount paid in wages has been ! greatly augmented the individual earni ings have been larger. Amongst the principal increases between 1890 and 1895 the butter and cheese making industries helped greatly towards the total augmentation. The increase in wages paid to males and females from IS9O to 1895 amounted to £98,952; the S increase in horse power during the same period to 6400. The total apI proximate value of land, buildings, land plant from 1891 to 1896 was £534,191 as compared with £164,896 from 18S6 to 1891.

The following quotation from the Year Book for 1899 puts the matter in a nutshell:—"The cause of the increase between IS9I and 1896 in the male hands being so low (322) was mainly the crash of the flax industry, and with it. a reduction of the; rope making. Under these heads an actual decrease of 2629 hands is accounted for. Bad times in regard to grain growing affected the number of persons employed at these mills'. also, and .in the iron working, but if the figures be analysed the increases will be found to sum up to 5201 hands against 3445 of decreases, and these last persons did not leave the colony,

but took to other pursuits, as ia shown by the increased population of the colony in 1596 over that of 1891 (76,702 persons). The total amouni of wages paid in the factories or large, industrial works increased from £1,808,640 in 1890 to £1,907.-92 in 1895. The value of machinery and plant rises from £2,172,852 in 1880 to £2,988,955 in 1896." These facts ought to be conclusive to any impartial mind, and are a complete reply, to a certain class of writers who attempt to belittle the industries of the colony for mere party purposes.