Production

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23319, 3 May 1941, Page 8

Production

The .Minister for Industries and Commerce, in an address at Foxton, reported yesterday, prophesied that the growing- and processing of ftax would - within"a few years’become one of, NfeW'Zealand's major industries. That the industry will, have a useful and profitable futuremay /reasonably be hoped; but it is doubtful -whether Hite 'Minister serves any good purpose ,by - -speaking in the strain of 'exuberant. ; optimism he generally adopts in his references new industrial enterprises, -He looked forward, .he .said, to, the day when even the new -Foxton.plant and the new flax-areas to be developed; would be “insufficient to meet the “heeds of the industry,”- the output of which fixes T.obujd"* visualise . . being trebled in the “notdistant future. Think what this will mean "to New' Zealand, etc., etc,” A short while ago the. Minister gave the' Labour Party conference +*' plain;' indication that the sugar b?et industry ;j|4lboiiit to- he established by the ( State, at a sort of;£?50,fl00. The, iron and steel industry, ' also; is i to>:he. Wtablished at Onekaka, although the esttoatenf the-ore deposits has been vastly induced and although Taranaki iron sands will have to be transported to the plant. More re* centiy, jin Christchurch, the Minister, forecast J&a /establishment -of Ikrge'andimportant inthe manufacture of paper woctiiMfc* and among manufactures lately |ai|a| Sto^eiy/Zealand’s production he men- i ?,t&fc*d, % ~‘tht sort of list he has often comdressings and compounds, iron plaster, colloidal sdlphur, gasket ''cement; - hand hammers, fire clay/ pumice powder, bitumenised paper, roofing Je!(ts,-,metal toys, wool and calico mops and glass, haircurlers and wavers, Morse heys; almond ( meal, push-chairs, soap, sugar, household tinware, hay grabs, interlock fabric, paper .drinking cups, carpet sweepers, sfiogs, t perambulator wheels, egg grading machinery,, stainless steel utensils, hospital equipment/and golf clubs. In many statements and speeches during the last two years particu-lariy-the 'has expounded the Governmenfl policy of industrial expansion, given sudh examples as the foregoing of its results, praised the successful energy with which the “ gaps ” due tp import control are being filled, and done . everything, short of citing figures, to stiggest that production has advanced by leaps and bounds. The want of these figures is regrettabterfor without them it seems very likely th^t/the ’country will be persuaded to accept a {misleading view ;of the trend of productioniu 'Metv . Zealand. . The January number of the Abstract of Statistics' contained the most upiset of production figures available. Unfortunately, they do not extend beyond the year "1939-40; but that is a sufficiently near pbmt 'for general argument The recorded movement of production in New Zealand Is illustrated in the following extract from one iable: ; - Index Numbers of ( Volume of Production (1928-29 = 1000). ! Year. Total. Per Head; r ** 1207 lilt i :j037 ? 38 ..1179 ,1081 ; 1938-39 1177 ,1066 »■ 1989-40 *. 1160 1039 of those figures clearly is that has be «h deWW#. - Moreoverj this ,is the parallel column B'eduea/W ihe same table:

Volume has declined; money values have risen. This fact necessitates great caution in interpreting factory statistics, which pTe all statistics of value. Thus, when it is shown that of materials used or operated upon rose from £75,000,000 in .1937-38 to £85,000,000 in 1939-40, the value of products from £113,700,000 to £129,000,000, and the added value from £38,600,000 to £44,120,000, i$ is a crude error to read these figures as a measure of increased production. They present a question, rather than information, about the reality behind the Minister’s statements. His enthusiasm is of course admirable and welcome. There is no reason, however, why it should flutter like a gaudy curtain between the public and the full facts about industrial progress.