The Press Wednesday, October 15, 1924. Local Industries.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18204, 15 October 1924, Page 8

The Press Wednesday, October 15, 1924. Local Industries.

To-day the citizens will sen the first of the processions which have been arranged by the Industrial Association with the object of bringing under the public notice the variety and extent of the local manufacturing industries. The experiment is an interesting one, and it may be expected that it will result in somo increase in the sympathy of the public with the desire of the Association that local industries shall grow and prosper. For a considerable time the manufacturers' organisations have been complaining that the New Zealand consumer docs not give the local manufacturers the support they deserve,' and they have quoted the statistics of imports to show that the British manufacturer finds a Lirgc market for his. goods in New Zealand. Various reasons have been put forward why the New Zealand consumer should prefer the New Zealand-made article, some sound and some of an unsoundness which is obvious to anyone who gives the matter any thought. Of course it is very much to be desired that New Zealanders shall- buy New Zealand goods in preference to goods from abroad, provided that the inducement to do so is free from any measure of compulsion. For if, with a moderate protective tariff, our manufacturers could more than hold their own against the British manufacturer, we should know that our factories were economically and efficiently working up the raw material of their goods; and economical and efficient methods are greatly to be desired in all industry, primary or secondary. In a publication brought out by the Industrial Association this week, Mr W. J. Jenkin, who has been wonderfully energetic and enthusiastic in pleading the cause of the local manufacturer, has an article in which he says that "the prejudice of the people against locally- " manufactured goods is fast disappearing, but opposition to the Dominion's "secondary industries is being pcr"sistently maintained in certain "circles." We do net know of anyone who is "opposed to the Dominion's "secondary industries," although-it is perfectly true that many people think that it is not good business to seek a solution of the problem of industrial development by imposing such skyscraper duties on imported goods as some of the industrialists advocate. A reasonable measure of protection is still regarded as permissible even by many who are persuaded of the theoretical advantages of Freetrade. Mr Jenkin is perfectly right in saying that the old prejudice against the local article is fast disappearing. Indeed, we doubt whether any real prejudice remains. The public nowadays cannot afford, even if it wished, to indulge any prejudices it might have. The consumer here, as everywhere, desires only to get what he requires at the price he can afford, and whenever he can satisfy his desire by purchasing a New Zea-land-made article he docs so. Whenever the consumer with a certain sum to spend in the satisfaction of some need buys an English article instead of the New Zealand article whieh, in quality and priee, is as good as the foreign product, he docs so because he is unaware of the facts about the goods concerned, and not because he is in any way the victim of prejudice. And this brings us to one of the most important of the lessons which the local manufacturer must learn. If he is not manufacturing what the public wants, at a priee the public will pay, he cannot hope to thrive. If he is in the happy position of being able to satisfy the public's requirements in these respects, he will still fail to thrive if he doo s not let the public know what he can do. Now. it has seemed to us that many local manufacturers have been inclined to rely rather upon compulsion than upon persuasion—to trnsfc to increasing tariff barriers rather than to the education of the public to a realisation of the valne they can give to it. The public has not the time to make extensive enquiries and investigations on its own account- It expects those whom it I patronises to announce themselves and their wares, and it will very soon forget any supplier or manufacturer who falters in his oubiicify work. A local contemporary which is a supporter of the extreme Protectionist view admits that "90 per cent, of us buy the article "that best suits our needs and is most "reasonably priced," wherever it may be made, and it gives the manufacturers exactly the same advice as wc have always given them. The campaign which the Industrial Association has planned for this week is good so far as it goes, but it will not greatly avail the local industries unless it is followed up by a continuous policy .if in '< telligeut advcriislu^.