'N.Z.’s 19th Century Attitude To Industry’

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31088, 17 June 1966, Page 10

'N.Z.’s 19th Century Attitude To Industry’

(New Zealand Press Association) DUNEDIN, June 16. New Zealand was still a colony in its attitude to industry and the majority of industries it had developed were owned by overseas concerns, Dr. W. B. Sutch, economic consultant and former Secretary of Industries and Commerce, told a conference of sixth-form pupils in Dunedin today.

New Zealand was still a monoculture, as all the colonies were in the 19th century. Its one natural resource in which the whole economy was based, was grass.

From the grass came meat, wool and dairy produce which was sent overseas. The wool was still exported in bags, the same way it was sent 100 years ago except that it was pressed tighter now. Most of the beef sent was sent in carcase form, cut into four pieces for convenient handling. “A pretty crude colonial export,” said Dr. Sutch.

The butter and cheese was milk which had had the minimum processing so that it could be exported. Denmark was selling against New Zealand in Britain and it was able to do so even though it imported food for its cattle and had the additional expense of keeping animals indoors during the winter. Denmark had a similar standard of living to New Zealand, and kept it up with dozens of exports. As well as the dairy industry other industries included fishing, cotton and woollen goods, drugs, ceramics, glassware and shipping. Beet Sugar Denmark had a balanced economy and a lot of exports. It did not have to import sugar—it processed its own from sugar beet grown in the country. The difference between the Danes and the New Zealanders was that the Danes were people who were highly skilled. This had developed through the fact that they were surrounded by the heritage of all the beauty and thought of the culture of Europe. “New Zealanders are surrounded by the sea,” said Dr. Sutch. “If we want to go to

another country we have to go across the sea, and then we are in Australia.”

“This is why New Zealand has made such a mess of its cities,” he said. “Blind engineers run our country because they haven’t got the surroundings and heritage that the engineers in Europe have. “New Zealand can only claim a nineteenth century heritage and this was the ugliest stage of Britain. It is reflected in our towns. “New Zealanders have a lack of natural pride. They are too ready to say, ‘but we couldn’t do this in New Zealand.’ ” Foreign Investment Industry developed in New Zealand was, to a large extent, owned by overseas interests. In this respect, too, the country was a colony. Overseas companies owned ships, insurance companies, trading banks, most of the freezing works, car-assembly plants, oil companies, soap companies, radio and television factories.

New Zealand was finding that it did not have enough money to buy imported goods and was realising that they had to be made in this country. “The skills are here all right, but who is going to own

these industries?” Dr. Sutch asked. The country was going through a rapid change. Industries were developing, and an invasion of overseas concerns was taking place to buy up as much industry as possible. The final thought he left the students was: “How do we make the transitions from being a colony to being a nation?”