“Changed Climate” For Manufacturing In N.Z.

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27442, 31 August 1954, Page 13

“Changed Climate” For Manufacturing In N.Z.

“Today we are manufacturing in a changed climate. Conditions that hitherto thave sheltered us have gone or are quickly disappearing. Whatever growth we have made in this decade has now to withstand the chill blast of winds from every quarter,” said Mr John Bradley in his presidential address to the Canterbury Manufacturers' Association last evening. “Import control has largely disappeared. Overseas exchange Becomes .free again at the beginning of next year. War-destroyed factories in Great Britain and Europe are e now rebuilt and functioning to capacity. Pent-up demands due to unavailability because of the world’s disturbed condition have now become matched with ample supplies. The seller’s market has gone. The buyer can look around before he buys, and he does. We gain nothing by bewailing what happened. We must apply with vigour, our brains and our ability to match these changes,” Mr Bradley said. “Whatever government is in power is a condition of things which manufacturers must accept,” Mr Bradley continued. “Political policy always impinges upon the economic life one way or another. A liberal trade policy, seeking to free from restrictions the inflow of goods into this country, must and does affect the situation as far as manufacturers are concerned. The change from the laborious and sometimes even sinuous method of import control to the tariff protection of industry means that those desiring to bring goods into the country have a much simpler procedure to follow. If the tariff protection afforded is based upon all the facts relevant jto manufacturing industries, and safeguards are immediate in action and ample in effectiveness to prevent dumping of goods, then the experiment to New Zealand economy of this change of policy should survive. In the long run, the answer to this new liberty, as an effective course of ’action for New Zealand, lies largely in how far liberty to act for better community welfare, does not become licence to act for individual self interest. Overseas Competition “We as manufacturers will take the good and the bad, or the luck of the game, as well as anyone else; but we do ask' that we bat on the same wicket as the overseas manufacturer,” said Mr Bradley. “In other words, that we have the same ease of access to world sources of supplies of raw materialf: that we have availability of. the most modern machinery (irrespective of location of manufacture) as our world competitors; that our factory acts, and the labour laws do not run so far ahead of the rest of the world in their amenity requirements and restrictive enactments, that we are leg-roped whilst they are untrammelled—unless, of course, these factors are taken into account in the tariff assessment

“T hold the view that we as manufacturers are duty bound to ririye to serve in whatever political field we may find ourselves living. The public will be the ultimate arbiters of tb« merits of whatever is the political policy in vogue,” said Mr Bradley. “The lifting of exchange control next .year is an unshackling of restnctive harness that appeals to aensible businessmen. Purchasing of raw materials in quickly-changing world markets demands liberty of action If basic values are to be obtained. There are * at times opportunities for bargains in world markets that ean be clinched only by immediate action," Mr Bradley said. “The ability to procure essential raw materials, by either ‘on the spot' purchase, or at a committed date without recourse to unassured granting of the necessary overseas currency, must mean in the ultimate better buying, and ultimately lower coat. Besides saying goodbye to import control and exchange restrictions, we are saying goodbye to ‘pent up’ demands. "The backlog of orders has largely gone. The purchasing capacity of the community consists of its earned wealth day by day, without the addition of years of earned money without things to buy. Making Goods for Market “Manufacturers have now to make goods to meet a .competitive market. - This involves two things—the pruning of extraneous growth in any business and an intensive and aggressive Mies policy,” Mr Bradley said. "From top executive to the most junior in the organisation, effective production will be the only answer to our changing economic conditions. In other words, management will have to manage to survive. “The reward in the future will be to those who.earn it; not to those who demand it. We can as manufacturers demand fair opportunity, just regard, reasonable laws. We must, as economic entities within the State, strive to serve to the limit of our abilities, and. by doing so, justify our existence and our claims," said Mr Bradley.