PARTNERS!

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 214, 8 September 1921, Page 8

PARTNERS!

t GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRIES £ HON. E .P. LEE ON N.Z. MADE GOODS. t ,: OF THE VESY BEST QUALITY." t ADVOCATES "TRADE WITHIN THE " DOMINION." i IIOX. C. J. PARR OX AUCKLAND'S *• FUTURE. There was a large and representative ' •fathering of manufacturers at the I ' Tiffin' , last night to extend a welcome t to the Hon. E. P. Lee, head of the Det parfcment of Industries and Commerce, j, who is in Auckland specially to investsi, gate the Auckland industries. Air. F. , M. Hills, president of the Auckland j* Provincial Industrial Association, pre- *• sided. I t >Ir. Hills said they wished to show t> their appreciation of the first official visit of the Minister of their own De- j i- pa/rfcment, the Department of Industries IT, and Commerce. They gave him a hearty' r. welcome, and were grateful to him for .£ accepting an invitation to inspect some J ot the Auckland industries. It -was '' trusted that the visit was only th« be- » ginning of a long period of co-operation, g and they looked forward with confidence " 1o the Department being as s-uccessful *? in helping the secondary industries as « the Department of Agriculture was in ■fi assisting the primairy industries. The a Department of Industries was only two tj years old, and had vigorously and £ thoroughly taken up the work of guiding £ and existing the Dominion's industries. ■JJ The Department had shown itself |B always ready to help thorn. After having j* accompanied the Hon. Mr. Lee on a * vjsit to certain of the manufactories, £ Mr. Hills was sure that there was no *» Minister better versed in Ms duties than a* the Jicad of the Department of Indusit tries and Commerce, The manufac- * lurere realised that if they were to get " the full benefit of the Department's JJ activities they must do all they could to •J assist it, and give it the beneJit of their * experience in their own life's work. He »■ vras sure that he was not saying too w much to say that the men of the U secondary industries were as pirblic■s epirited as any in the Dominion, and did ; not ask fox assistance unless they were I quite sure that it was for the good of jft the -whole nation as well as for the I industries. One of the things they « could do in conjunction with, the Dep partment was to educate the nation to £ a proper understanding of the import--5 ance of the secondary industries in co- * operation with the primary industries. FLEXIBLE TARIFF. j X Mr. 8. J. Harbutt spoke on the ques- » tjon of the tariff, which he said was the « most important to come before Parlia- *, ■ ment, and also the most difficult, as * whenever it came on the floor of the J House every single item 'was open for * discussion. The Dominion Customs laws * were too cast-iron. They must, o! i course, have a permanent general tariff, •7 'but there should be some means, such 1 as a commission; for periodically- taking \ , evidence and making recommendations '■ I to the Minister, who should have power i to revise an item at any time, subject, 1 of course, to revision by Parliament at > the next succeeding session. By attending the sittings of the recent Tariff Commission hejiad seen the disastrous effect of the tariff on Dominion industries. The policy of the manufacturers was f that industries in their early stages I should be protected from countries that * were working on lower standards. By' I legislation the Government had- 6efc a ] i fixed standard of living and wages, and , having done that the Government was I bound to give the manufacturers a tariff : which afforded them equivalent protec- \ tion. or else they could not survive. An- : I other reason for a protective tariff was to give capital security for the large s sums spent in establishing large plaate, 1 and allowing overhead charges to be 5 „ reduced. There should be power, said < 5 Mr. Harbutt, to prevent dumping, which 1 j always meant unemployment. It was I I said that Xew Zealand was not a manu- * facturing country, but that was no rea- , j son why it should not be so. It was 1 6 essential for tho welfare of the country , J that the secondary and primary indusi tries should be developed togethei. * CHEAP POWER. j ■ 3lr. J. A. C. Allum made a strong ' ■ point of cheap power, and gave instances ' ' « where Auckland- manufactures were at ' i a disadvantage as compared with manu- ' {factures in Christchurch and Dunedin, < I where hydro-electricity was available. 1 The manufacturers must have cheap * i hydro-electricity if they were to keep < > in the front rank, and lie made a strong- < 3, plea for Government aid in pushing on 1 t the ArapTini scheme. < 5 Mr. H. Dearsly gave an appreciative s ' account of the growth of the Depart- 1 j ment of Industries and Commerce. The i * Board of Trade had given much help ana 1 I good advice, and in this connection Mr. i t Dearsly mentioned the name of Mr. ] ' Carter, the Auckland representative of j i the Board of Trade, a body which was ] J entirely free from red tape. -t i Mr. A. G. Lunn, president of the CJiam- ( her of Commerce, referred to the inti- i '» mate connection between commerce and 1 5 industries, and said they must improve, | * foster, and extend their secondary in- i ; dustries if the country were to occupy ( 1 the place to which it was entitled. As ( an instance of the energies of the Department of which Mr. Lee was the head { Mr. Lunn spoke of its interest in inquir- f ing into the reasons for the loss of the { Island trade. i "BOOST" AUCKLAND. 1 The Hon. C. J. Parr, Minister of J Education, i>aid a tribute to the worth of his colleague, Mr. Lee, who, he said, f could always be depended on to give the ' North a square deal. As long as in- J dustry developed on a fair and reasonable basis, it was entitled to fair and 1 reasonable protection. Mr. Parr warned * his hearers against anything in the * nature of antagonism between town and v country. That would 'be suicidal. They i * must hang together or they might hang . B separately. He wanted to impress upon r them to see that this -wonderful pro- v virice of - Auckland, that was as yet * merely scratched, got a square deal and T had a chance to develop as it should, j* Their test market, he took it, was I' largely at their own -back-doors. The | £ town must support the country in what- T ; ever reasonable and legitimate requests ]' ' it made to the Government of the day. | * What struck him most in going through . \ the province was the immense develop-j c ment of the past fifteen "or twenty F years, and yet the development had only "begun as he had said. It was not * realised the immense possibilities that lay at their very doors in the development of the national resources of their r huge province. He sometimes wiehed a that they had something of that mis- r sionary and active spirit of their friends c in.the South Island. They did not fail J to -f boost" and advertise their wares, a

They also all pulled together, business people, country local bodies, in boosting their districts. It was an age of boost and advertisement, and the man who would not shout his wares from the housetops was doomed to failure. He would hope to see in his own province of Auckland a feeling, not of separation or hostility between town and country, but the very closest cooperation 'between the man on the land and the man in the workshop. In that way they would develop a province and city easily the greatest in Now Zealand. If they saw that their hinterland was developed there was no reason why the City of Auckland, in the lives of some of those present, should not have 400,000 to 500.000 people. Mr. M. J. Savage, M.P.. in a neat I speech, emphasised the fact that they ] could not have industrial prosperity I unless they worked for the benefit of thoee who labu »>d with hand and 'brain. I On behalf of the wage and nalarj- earners ihe wished to emphasise the fao,t that unless they were assured a standard o living, just as the captain was aesured they could never hope to rise very high lin the scheme of things. Labour and industry must work hand in hand. I INDUSTRIES HERE TO STAY. Mr. Lee acknowledged the cordial wel- ' come he had received, and expreseed his thanks for the opportunity of visiting a number of factories. Without such a visit it was almost impossible to have any conception of what was 'being done in the industrial world of New Zealand. His visit had extended now to three cities, and it had confirmed him in the view that our industries were here to stay. (Hear, hear.) It was not a matter of considering the question of whether it were wise to embark or engage in industrial pursuits. That was a thing of the pact. We had engaged in industrial pursuits. There were in the Dominion some -1000 industries, some 72,000 persons were engaged, and a large amount of capital was represented in 'buildings and plant, and there wae only one thing to do to-day, and that was to carry them on to the best possible advantage. The relationship of industries and agriculture and pastoral interests had been discussed. In his opinion thej" were not subjects for competitive examination at all. The success of the Dominion was wrapped up in the efficient and successful development of its natural resources, and the development of its industrial resources. The two were brethren in anus, depending on each other, and at all times uniting to assist one another. Naturally agricultural and pastoral development had come first in this country, but of late years the industrial development was a matter of concern to the Government. The Department of Industries and Commerce had come in late, and it wae nice to hear the kind things said about its c (Torts. The Board of Trade would assist industry in any way possible. There were many days in which industry could be fostered. Not only were- up-to-date methods essential, but the methods of to-morrow and the day after to-morrow. It wae quite obvious that only those would succeed who were up to date and used modern methods. The Government had a rixht to ask that, manufacturers should carry on their businesses on up-to-date lines. We had competent managers and workpeople, and it wae to be hoped they would work in harmony and for the good of all. The Minister laid great stress on the importance of scientifictraining in the ■ technical schools. The institution of a board of scien tific investigation wa6 now under consideration of the Board of Trade,and that would be of great assistance to industries in solving many important problems. They all knew what was being done in Europe by the scientists. He quite agreed that the proposal to bring in hydro-electricity as speedily as possible was sound. There were vast sources of power in the waters of New Zealand. He was not provincial in his ideas on development and in no part of, the Dominion that he had eeen would the development of water-power be a better proposition for the people ac a whole than in this largely populated district of Auckland. (Hear, hear.) As an instance of the entire success of hydro-electricity he mentioned the Lake Cdleridge scheme and said he hoped every effort would be made to develop the great natural power with which the country was endowed. UP-TO-DATE METHODS. He would not touch on the tariff question- beyond saying that the Board of Trade had been in close touch with the Tariff Commission, and had an opportunity of hearing of the difficulties different industries had with the tariff system and the dumping system. Those were now matters for the Government to consider and he could not express any opinion, but he did recognise the difficulties that arose when one country with its over-production could swamp the industries- of another country without any detriment to itself. Dumping inevitably crippled the industries of the country into 'vhieh the goods were dumped, with the result that in the end prices would, rise again and the people get no. benefit of dumping prices. The Minister referred to the importance of the forthcoming exhibition in AVellington, of New Zealand made goods. He,said there was, unfortunately, no general , knowledge of the things that we could 1 produce and he-would cay without hesi- ' tation, were producing of the very best * quality. (Hear, hear.) In come cases f the prices were admittedly not low, but t those articles were in many instances " entering into competition in. the retail ; 3hops with inferior articles that came .5 from other countries. Some people 1 thought it was fashionable to decry the * local article. If trade within the Empire ,J, was good, why not trade within the 0 Dominion? (Hear, hear.) They did not i expect exclusive trade within the Bomin- ° ion, but they had the raw material, up- a to-date machinery, and the necessary c talent, and he believed that we could j! handle those raw products to the ad- [ vantage of the whole community and so t keep in the country the money that *■■ .vould otherwise leave it by sending those products out of the country to be r nanufactured. It was true there was no I: -ed tape about hie department, and he .vanted the manufacturers to keep in F iouch with them. The object of the de- 0 jartment was to encourage industries to 1 ihe best of its ability. What tho mami- v :acturers had to do wae to produce a jood article at a reasonable price. It nust be brought home to the people that if a man preferred to get his articles :rom some other country when he could ?et them in New Zealand, he might in- * lulge hie fancy if he chose, but he must * my for it. (Hear, hear.) In conclusion < Mr. Lee urged North and South to pull together for the good of the whole , Dominion. ' During the evening the Lyric quartet ! •endered several very enjoyable items, J tnd refreshments were served. The ax- i ■angerocnts for the gathering were exrellent, thanks to the president, to Mr. ' r. Findlay, the association secretary, I md the executive. , I a