‘Economy Parts Complementary

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31169, 20 September 1966, Page 4

‘Economy Parts Complementary

Instead of competing against each other, the different sectors of the economy were interdependent, the general secretary of the Manufacturers’ Federation (Mr A. R. Dellow) said in Rotorua yesterday.

Manufacturers, he said, supplied materials to help boost farm production: the farmers earned most of New Zealand’s overseas exchange which bought plant and raw materials for industry. Mr Dellow, addressing the annual conference of the Electric Supply Authority Engineers’ Institute, was commenting on a recent study by the professor of agricultural economics at Lincoln College (Professor B. P. Philpott). Mr Dellow said that, in a recent study, Professor Philpott had claimed that productivity in manufacturing had increased at a rate of 2.7

per cent a year, compared with 6.1 per cent in public utilities (including power generation) and 4.5 per cent in farming. Professor Philpott, said Mr Dellow, had claimed that the comparison supported a case for concentrating upon farm development for export, and giving less emphasis to factory expansion. “Our comparison between power generation and manufacturing illustrates the significance of capital employed when considering the effective contribution of any industry, or group of industries, to the national economy,” said Mr Dellow.

“Our present productivity index is prepared by dividing the volume of production index by an index of numbers of people engaged, but the evidence before us strongly suggests that this leaves the equation incomplete. “Increased productivity is achieved not only from improved application of labour, but by judicious utilisation of

capital. This applies to farming, just as much as to power generation and manufacturing. “1 can say, emphatically, that manufacturers applaud the spectacular increases in farm production which are now being achieved. They are of vital importance to our nation, including the manufacturing sector.

"But it would be an oversimplification to regard this as as result of greater productivity ol labour. Higher productivity is, in fact, the result rather than the cause, and is due to a number of factors.

“Since the agricultural development conference, there has been more effective planning of expansion of farm production. Forward planning has assumed a very important place in your industry and manufacturers would like to see it applied more positively to the economy as a whole.

“In addition, there have been improvements in the

quality of our herds and flocks, which have improved productivity of the livestock as much as those who tend them.”

Mr Dellow said that older established industries must continue to expand. In doing so, they would help provide opportunities for the 63,000 extra people who would be engaged in manufacturhing in the next seven years.