HELP PROMISED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 158, 6 July 1937, Page 10

HELP PROMISED.

N.Z. INDUSTRIES.

IF CRAMPED BY NEW LAWS.

TARIFF REDUCTION FLAN. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) HASTIXGS, this day. "The Prime Minister hae emphatically stated that where an industry has been unduly affected by legislation to the extent that it cannot be carried on, then steps to protect that industry will be taken, but I want to say that of the great many industries that we have investigated we have found that in almost every instance factories are working at full capacity and cannot keep pace with the orders," said the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, Minister of Industries and Commerce, when replying to a deputation from the Hastings Chamber of Commerce regarding the competition Xew Zealand woollen manufacturers are being called upon to meet from Australia. Mr. H. W. C. Baird, the president of the chamber, said that one important question was whether New Zealand manufacturers to-day were putting their housee in order as regards efficiency. He considered that a tariff reduction up to 15 per cent, spread over three years, would not only help manufacturers to increase their efficiency, but also would help trade with Britain. The Minister expressed sympathy with the proposal, and said what had to be done was to get down costs without reducing wages, because by reducing wages there would be a reduction of purchasing power.