The Press THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1962. Too Much Gloom In Nelson

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29724, 18 January 1962, Page 12

The Press THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1962. Too Much Gloom In Nelson

Nelson is the one district in New Zealand that justifiably may feel disappointed about the Government’s decision to contract out of the cotton mill agreement. Nelson residents, however, could not expect the rest of the Dominion to sacrifice national interests (which are also Nelson’s) to the local advantages that would have resulted from a big but uneconomic enterprise. Sympathy for Nelson would have been no less without Tuesday’s protest meeting. In their disappointment, speakers at this meeting took refuge in unwarrantable gloom about Nelson’s future. For instance, to contend that “ no other province was in “ greater need of industrial “ development ” was to underrate the difficulties of the West Coast. It was dubious logic, too, to suggest that because much work in Nelson province is seasonal, a cotton mill would have solved employment problems. Among the most extravagant charges were those of the Deputy-Leader of the Opposition (Mr Skinner), who tried to lay at the door of the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) blame for all Nelson’s misfortunes, real or imaginary, since 1938. Mr Skinner might have been more specific about ; the “ vindictive acts ” for 1 which he holds Mr Holyoake ' responsible; presumably the i abandonment of the Nelson ! railw’ay was one such act. 1 Mr Skinner could scarcely i include the improvement i of Nelson's excellent high- i ways, and the continuance < of the “ notional railway ” > to the east coast His criti- 1

t cism of Mr Holyoake for . declining official engageI ments in Nelson would have been more convincing if he had mentioned occasions when Mr Holyoake has visited the city. , Tuesday’s meeting was i itself disappointing for its i failure to produce construci tive suggestions on how ■ Nelson is to make up for lan admitted local loss, ; though not a “ national I . “calamity”. This was far i from being the first time ; that a New Zealand city . had seen industrial hopes frustrated. Not many years ago, for instance, a pro- ! posal for a cotton mill in' Christchurch was jettisoned for economic reasons. If there is a moral for Nelson residents, it may be that development is surer when divorced from considerations of political expediency. Nelson has indigenous resources, notably in agriculture, horticulture, and forestry, upon which industrial expansion will be based . more profitably than on the handling of imported raw materials, commonly grown and processed in countries with cheap labour. An excellent lead was given by Mr Holyoake during an address in Nelson on November 14, 1960, when he urged the development of a pulp and paper industry, comparable with that at Kawerau. If the Commonwealth Fabric Corporation’s factory could become a component in some such scheme, the Government might be relieved of an unwanted asset, and Nelson might be provided with the impetus to progress that cotton manufacture was supposed locally to guarantee.