SECONDARY INDUSTRIES.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18677, 28 April 1926, Page 11

SECONDARY INDUSTRIES.

TO THE EDITOR 0» "tOTI PBEgS." r i —l, like many other readers, very much appreciated your leading article in your issue of the 23rd inst. but Mr Woolf s letter in 10-day's i-ssue aiiliougli distinctly humorous is anything but a credit to the Industrial Association and you, Mr Editor, by your leader iu to-day's issue, have taken the wind out of my sails by replying exactly as J should have replied. It appeal's to me that Mr Woolf s one object is to obtain an additional 10 per ceut. duty ou imported goods at any cost. We do not mind so much the effort, but what I think all New Zealanders object to is that they should be treated as children by the Indusrial Association, for even a child can see that their proposed increase of 10 per oent. is nothing more nor less than increasing the living by that 10 per cent., which New Zealand cannot stand at present, as the consumer pays; and the supposed protected industry is no better off.

What is wanted is efficiency only British efficiency leads the world to-day. Proof of this is to be found in your columns of to-day's issue, which states that seven years after the end of the World .War Britain was able to export manufactures valued at £616,000,000 in a single year, being more than any country in the world, and this is the result of efficiency—not protection of oven 10 per cent. _ I feel sure that there is not a single New Zealander with British blood flowing through his veins who would like to see even an attempt to check Britain's efforts. We are part and parcel of Britain, and I am proud to say that there are many New Zealand secondary industries to-day as efficient as "Britain or America, and can compete with them in the open market, and do not require to be spoon-fed.—Yours, etc., FAIR-PLAT.