INDUSTRIES IN N.Z.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 18902, 18 January 1927, Page 8

INDUSTRIES IN N.Z.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY.

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE BULLETIN.

The latest bulletin issued by the Economics Committee of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce deals with the relations of primary and secondary industries in New Zealand. Tho bulletin states:— The usual broad division of our industries into the primary and secondary industrial groups, though useful and necessary for statistical classification, is unduly simple and is therefore misleading. A much truer picture is presented in the following classification of persons employed in the Dominion (from the 1921 Census Beport):—

This classification shows that more than a quarter of our occupied population is engaged in primary production, a little over a fifth in industrial production, and just over half in other pursuits which are not directly productive. ' The primary industries are a homogeneous group easily recognised, and consisting mainly of farming or all kinds, timber, and mining. But the industrial group is decidedly heterogeneous, and includes all the minor industries of the' Dominion, road and railwav maintenance workers, refuse collectors, undertakers, and all the miscellaneous repair industries, such as the village blacksmiths,, plumbers, carpenters, painters, etc.

Classification, In order to show how the fortunes of industries are influenced by the conditions governing the marketing of their output, the Bulletin attempts to regroup industries "in a way that will reveal significant differences in market conditions.'' These are its groups: Valuo o£ : net. Gross Product No. o£ Value of (added Estabproduct value) lishProduct. (£ millions). (£ millions), ments.

Sheltered and Unsheltered. •s . ■

The products included m Group 1. (it explains) have to .be sold, as a; rule, in .competitive overseas markets, after meeting transport costs to those markets. They are entirely unsheltered against the competition of rival producing countries. The products of Group 11. enjoy an almost completely sheltered local market, for though a fraction of the products classed as glass, publications, vehicles, etc., may meet some competition from imports, the bulk of the products included in this group has the local market to itself, either because the product must be locally produced to meet particular local needs, as in the case of repair industries, newspaper publications, and heat, light, and power, or because, as in the case or bulky goods such as stone and clay good's or furniture, transport_costs from overseas are prohibitive. Group Illcontains almost all the products which are subject in appreciable degree to the competition of imports. But some part of each class in the group is not subject to such competition. Vegetable food is mainly flour; wood products include the output of sawmills and sash and door factories, non-precious metals include air the engineering repair industries, and a considerable part of saddlery, apparel, and the other classes is either repair work or has for other reasons a secure and sheltered local market. Post-War Difficulties. Analysis of secondary industries grouped alone these lines is essential to any effective consideration of the relations and relative importance of our. various industrial interests. The net total product of New Zealand is valued at £lO6 millions, that of the industries which really have to meet foreign competition in the local market is in the neighbourhood of £8 millions, or less than 8 per cent, of the whole. The product of the big export industries (pastoral and dairying), which' meet world '■' competition in our export markets is £SB millions or about 55 per cent, of the total. 1 The remaining 37 per cent, of our production, both primary and secondary, is sold in a naturally sheltered local market. , . , xl. The chief economic difficulties of the Dominion in the post-war period are traceable to the disparity between prices and costs' throughout these groups of industries. The sheltered industries still receive hitrh prices for their output, many of these prices being in the neighbourhood of double the pre-war level. The unsheltered industries have the prices for their produce determined by overseas competition, and. v these competitive. prices cluster round about 50 per cent, above the pre-war. level. The price received by the sheltered industries, as well as those of the various commercial and transport industries, determine costs in | the unsheltered industries, and, in I many cases, these basic,industries cannot make costs and prices meet. ,

DISTRIBUTION OP OCCUPATIONS. Per cent, of Number. Total, Primary production (dairying, 58,000; sheepfarming, 32,000; agriculture, 17,000; mixed farming, 11,000; forestry, 10,000; raining, 8000) 152,000 27.8 Industrial production (building, 25,000; food. drink, and tobacco, 20,000; engineering. 13,000; road and railway construction, 8000; books and printing, 5000) 119,000 ' 21.8 Commercial (property and finance, 13,000; textile trades, etc., 14,000; mixed businesses, 10,000) 79,000 11.5 Transport and Communication (railways, 15,000; post and telegraph, 10,000; shipping, 8000; carrying, 6000; on wharves, 5000) 55,000 10.1 Professional (local and general government, 9000; law and order, 6000; health, 11,000; . education, 15,000) 52,000 9.5 Domestic and other groups (domostic service, 22,000; hotels and boarding-houses, 14,000; independent, 32,000; not stated, 13,000) 88,000 16.1 Total breadwinners 546,000 Dependents .. • ■ •J™-'""' Population (excluding Maoris) .. l,Ji»,uu«

Group I.— Animal food .. 33.1 6.8 538 Other animal • matter 1.1 .5 66 Total 34.2 7.3 604 Sroup II. — Drinks, otc. . . • 1.0 1.1 211 Hoat, light, and power 4.6' •,:,2.2 146 Stone, clay, and glass Publications .. 1.3 3.6 1.5 • 2.7 1G6 292 738 294 60 Vehicles 1.9 1.2 Furniture 1.4 .7 Chemicals 1.0 ' .4 Total 16.3 9.3 1907 Group HI.— Vegetable food G.4 . 1.7 130 625 Wood products 5.9 4.3 Non-precious ■metals; 3.1 1.9 375 Leatherware and saddlery ■3.0 ■ .8 161 16 . ' 811 342 Textiles ' • • ' 1.5 ' .7 Apparel ■3.9 1.8 Other classes .. 2.7 1.7 Total 26.5 12.9 I960 Grand total 77.0 . 30.0 4471