Hopes for N.Z. industry

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33094, 8 December 1972, Page 2

Hopes for N.Z. industry

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, December 7. Agriculture had a lower potential than industry for maintaining full employment and raising living standards in New Zealand, said the president of the Manufacturers’ Federation (Mr F. Tumovsky), to the Wellington Planning Group. Agriculture, though it had served New Zealand well in the past, was subject to fluctuating world prices that brought undesirable flow-on effects to the domestic economy.

It also had a lower potential than industry for increasing productivity, Mr Tumovsky said. “Industry, and particularly

export industry, has much greater potential for maintaining full employment for a growing population and lifting living standards. "We have just elected a new Government whose policy is clearly based on industrial development. Finance for improvements in social welfare, educational services and so on can only come from this source. "So the decision to industrialise has been made; the question now is what form should it take.” Mr Turnovsky said industries should be encouraged which used New Zealand’s raw materials, resources and human skills, which had export potential and had a minimal impact on the environment. The community had given the new Government a mandate for its industrial decentralisation policy. Local authorities had an important role as the link between re-

gional populations and central Government. Local government would have to provide land, favourable rating arrangements, adequate public services, suitable building regulations, and congenial living conditions for the work force, said Mr Tumovsky. "Central government’s basic role in implementing its over-all plan must be to provide the basic incentives and conditions to attract resources and investment into industry. "The days are long past when we can rely on the price mechanism to achieve a favourable pattern of development and allocation of resources. Goals are not achieved by accident but require positive planning and implementation at all levels.”