Minister attacks Conference Lines

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32701, 2 September 1971, Page 3

Minister attacks Conference Lines

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, September 1. The decision of the British Conference Lines not to provide a New Zealand container service could be the beginning of the end of British dominance of shipping to and from New Zealand, the Minister of Finance (Mr Muldoon) said today.

In an address in Hastings to the annual conference of the Fruitgrowers’ Federation, Mr Muldoon said that there was a lesson that the shipowners must learn.

This was, he said, that a monopoly could not be retained if one insisted on loading all the costs of one’s own inefficiency and poor British industrial relations on the New Zealand producer. The British lines, “in one of the most dismally inept displays of poor public relations in recent times,” had given the New Zealand Government two days notice of the decision, he said. “COST N.Z. MILLIONS” “This decision cost New Zealand millions of dollars in outlays which could be wasted or inadequately used, and a loss of good will to British shipowners; which, in the long run, could be equally important,” he said. Referring to the Upper Clyde shipbuilding industry, Mr Muldoon said that after pricing themselves out of the

market and their employers into bankruptcy, the shipyard workers, now face to face with reality, were prepared to work for anything in order to keep their jobs-.

The British Government had made a “courageous decision” in refusing to once again bail them out of a mess that had been largely of their own making. “SAME LESSON”

“The lesson for New Zealand is the same,” Mr Muldoon said. “Too much attention has been given by proprietorship, management and labour as to who gets the greater share of the profits. “Unless we work efficiently at every level there will be no profits, and there will simply be a bankrupt business.

“If the people of our two countries can only learn that lesson there will be nothing to fear from Britain’s entry to the E.E.C. and ultimately there will be increased opportunities for both New Zealand and Britain. “If that lesson cannot be learned the future for both New Zealand and Britain is bleak.”

New Zealand must remain, or become, internationally competitive with British entry, the Minister said. “Unless we become competitive there will be no cake to share,” he said. “There will be no profits, no dividends, no bonuses, no extra paid holidays and no social security.” All of these rested on efficient, competitive production, he said. “The businessman’s half day at golf and the spelling watersider in the comer of the shed each are diminishing their own income as well as the income of the rest of us.”