INDUSTRIAL COSTS

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30453, 29 May 1964, Page 8

INDUSTRIAL COSTS

Booklet To Be Published The Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association was going into the whole question of power, freight and other costs in relation to industry and hoped to publish a booklet within a month giving data on the industrial growth in Canterbury, said a letter from the association received at a meeting of the Canterbury Progress League. The league had asked the association for details of a statement that a certain industry had been lost to Christchurch because of excessive electricity cost in the South Island. Specific details of losses of industries were asked for.

The association replied the statement had not gone as far as dealing with the drift Of industry to the North because of excessive power costs.

It had been wished to make the point that power costs were definitely a contributing factor in the overhead structure of any industry.

However the association intended to publish the booklet and also felt that now the City Council had set up a committee to go into costs, industry and commerce could expect some relief from excessive power charges. Mr A. L. Burke said he could not see. why there could not be a New Zealandwide uniform power tariff. Power was a national commodity, and would be more' so with the coming of the Cook Strait cable. He thought interested parties should press for the. root cause. of the -matter to be remedied, and he felt the root cause was politics.