NATIONALISM

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22895, 16 December 1939, Page 7

NATIONALISM

to thc corras or thb ra«sa. Sir —I have listened* with interest to a series of radio broadcasts by Mr Sullivan on the subject of the purchase by the public of the products of New Zealand industries to the exclusion of those of outside countries, but what we -consumers would like to hear would be some information regarding relative cos®, having regard naturally to ouality, etc., and also taking into consideration the loss involved in customs duty, which necessarily would have to be made up by us. Owing to the extreme paucity of our population mass production methods are out of the question, as under such a system our yearly requirements of a product would embrace only a few days work. A deluge of Ministerial comment has been showered upon us (> on the subject of “building a nation. This sounds well, but what is necessary for -a start in such a laudable direction is a very large increase •in our ?ion When this is achieved it will be time enough to talk about “building a nation. Meantime, it -behoves us to keep our internal cpsts £?Wn to the lowest possible level ui ?rser that, we may lecture, the greenest possible benefit from the sale, overseas of our surplus primary" production. It is axiomatic that an essentially primary-producing country like ours must adopt such a course; otherwise, in the _ absence of continuous large subsidies, which would be financially* smpossbile, our

primary-producing efforts would die a natural death, and then what would happen to our little country?— Yours. etC ’’ CONSUMER. December 13, 1939.