CO-ORDINATION OF INDUSTRY

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21324, 17 November 1934, Page 16

CO-ORDINATION OF INDUSTRY

MANUFACTURERS' EFFORTS WORK OF CONFERENCE REVIEWED "The most important conference in the history of the organisation" was the description applied by Mr F. L. Hutchinson, immediate past president of the New Zealand Manufacturers' Federation, to the federation's annual conference at Wellington from which he returned yesterday morning. The conference sessions were very strenuous, and extended into the evenings, said Mr Hutchinson. Consideration was' given to many important questions, chief of which was the industrial co-ordination report, eventually adopted as the policy of the federai.ion. Its main features are the provision for setting up a permanent council of industries representing both the manufacturers and the state, the urging of the unification of the industries sections of state departments under a highly specialised Industries and Commerce Department, and the co-ordination of manufacturing industries with a view to higher efficiency and greater service to the consumer. "The federation is taking the initiative in bringing about, in its own sphere of activity, those measures which, sooner or later, will be forced upon all forms of industry and public utility." said Mr Hutchinson. Other important matters dealt with were labour in relation to emDloyment, wages, the Standards Institution, disabled soldiers' civil rehabilitation, subsidies to increase employment, apprenticeship, Japanese imDorts, sales tax, British imports under preferential tariffs, freight, primage, and many others. There was also a great amount of work connected with the internal organisation and activities of the federation. "During the year work of an informative character has given the public and Parliament a much truer understanding of the value of manufactures. Such information is of increasing interest to everyone," said Mr Hutchinson. "These industries will become an increasingly important factor in 'finding the way out of the depression,' and urban growth and natural population increases will follow their development along the lines of the policy adopted by the federation."