NEW ZEALAND FIRST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 139, 14 June 1932, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND FIRST.

PURCHASE OF GOODS. SCHOOL COMMITTEE SUPPORTED. ACTION BY MANUFACTURERS. Action has been taken by the Auckland Manufacturers' Association to induce the Auckland Education Board to reconsider its decision on the request of the Te Arolia school committee that the school syllabus should include instruction on the importance of buying New Zealand goods first and Empire manufactures second. The request had been declined on the ground that the question was controversial, involving a matter of Government policy. At yesterday's meeting of the association it was decided to forward a, letter to the Te Arolia committee expressing appreciation of its efforts and indicating the association's view that it was good business to advocate the encouragement of the use of the products of secondary industries equally with those of the primary industries. The hope was expressed that the rebuff the committee had received would not deter it from its good purpose. The following is the text of the letter it was decided to send to the Auckland Education Board: —"We have to express disappointment with the board's attitude towards local industries as evidenced by its treatment of a letter from the Te Arolia school committee advocating the instruction of children in practical patriotism. The committee's suggestion that children should be taught to support local industries first and Empire products second is surely only practical coinmonsense, when it is known that on leaving school the majority of these children will be dependent upon local industries for their livelihood .. . We trust you will see the necessity for reversing your decision in the matter of the Te Arolia request, involving as it does the future prosperity and well-being of the children and people of the Dominion as a whole." Mr. J. A. C. Allum said it was astounding that any authority should have declined to support such a movement as the committee sought to foster. "I could never understand the frame of mind of a person who, while supporting the purchase of British goods, will not agree that New Zealand-made articles should come first. Why on earth we cannot place our own product first I cannot understand. Patriotism nnist be practical, and we should show it by encouraging our young people to buy the things tlieir fathers and brothers are making, so that the purchase of New Zealand-made goods will be instinctive when they reach manhood."