REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT New Govt methods for assistance

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33027, 21 September 1972, Page 1

REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT New Govt methods for assistance

(New Zealand Press Association) DUNEDIN, September 20.

The Government was considering new’ methods to assist regional development, said the Prime Minister (Mr Marshall) this evening. An additional $50,000, he said, was being provided in the Supplementary Estimates of expenditure for approved regional studies, to be subsidised $ for $.

Further study freight differentials, instruments of regioi

Mr Marshall made the announcements in a speech to the OtagoSouthland Manufacturers’ Association and the Otago Chamber of Commerce.

“The Government is pre-

was also being given investment allowances lal development.” pared to support regional development in cases with the supply gh power at special industrial rates where the price of elesf trie power is a significant! element in costs,” Mr Marshall said. “We are prepared to provide finance, particularly through the Development Finance Corporation, as a special contribution to regional development.

Specific projects “We are prepared to provide research and development grants for specific projects, and we are prepared to provide financial assistance for the assessment and development of new processes and inventions to a stage where they can be developed by industry in a particular area.”

Mr Marshall said the Cabinet Economic Committee was still studying the freight tax concession for the deduction of 150 per cent of freight charges. It had been estimated that this would cost between sBm and slom a year “and we would need to be satisfied that a scheme of this magnitude would be effective and that the advantages would outweigh the disadvantages,” Mr Marshall said.

Criteria accepted The Government had accepted the National Development Council’s criteria for regional development. These were that Govern-

Jip the -sanction of rail- . paq uoi other possible 03 ainji laqi pi I) Ja; distance in regional •uor ent might be warjuaujv' here some or all of at wing were relevant: .. ej£ fence of untapped L_ economically expioitabie natural resources XT region experiencing “low growth. Lhe existence of trends which indicated that less than sufficient resources and services were being maintained in rural areas

or smaller centres for the efficient operation of industries in the primary sector, particularly those with good export prospects. The under-utilisation in an urban centre or region of infrastructure that could be employed economically. ... The existence of detrimental social effects of excessive concentration and growth • in some large urban centres, or of decline rural areas and sms. centres.