Careful Planning Of Steel Works

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30294, 21 November 1963, Page 12

Careful Planning Of Steel Works

(From Our Own Reporter)

NELSON, November 20.

If the establishment of the glass works at Whangarei had been planned as carefully as the National Government had been planning the iron and steel works, the glass works would not have created the problems it did, said the National Party candidate for Nelson, Mr P. H. Malone, in an election address at Stoke.

Mr Malone was commenting on the National Government’s industrial development programme and comparing it with the Labour Government’s policy in its last term. New Zealand had been dependent upon a stable overseas market for production and this in turn depended largely on the country's primary producers, he said. “We needed this primary produce to buy into the country the raw materials we need for many of our industries. I believe this policy is going to have to change. “More and more young people are going out of the schools looking for jobs and work must be provided for them. The National Government has done that and will continue to do just that,” he said. “We must ensure that production in the country increases but at the same time also ensure that the economy does not suffer because of a bad policy," said Mr. Malone. Industries must be planned properly to ensure that the children leaving school have continuing jobs. “The iron and steel works are the kind of industries we want in New Zealand. We don’t want another Whangarei glass works. The Whangarei glass works would have teen better if it had been planned as carefully as the National Government has been planning the iron and steel works,” said Mr Malone. Commenting on the aban-

donment of the cotton mill at Nelson, Mr Malone said the principals of the nylon industry that was being established in New Zealand had not gone to the Government and asked for full protection. “One industry wanted full protection and the other wanted no protection. There is the difference. And I would say that that is the industry that we want in this country,” he said. Mr Malone also defended the Government's decision to become a member of the World Bank. If the country was going to expand and flourish, money was necessary to finance big development projects. This money could come from three sources—from borrowing. from its own income or by the creation of money. “A £lOOO mill debt seems a terribly large one. but when you realise that the national income a year is £l3OO million, the debt does not seem so large,” said Mr Malone. “In 1958 our overseas reserves dropped considerably, and again in 1961. In both cases we had to go overseas to borrow money. In 1958 our credit in Wall Street was so good that we had to pay 8 per cent interest on the money we got. Now, as a member of the International Monetary Fund, our interest rate is only 1.7 per cent,” said Mr Malone. "The people of this country shouldn't be scared of this interest bill so long as it is working for the people,” he said.