Sir George Wood (75) looks to the future

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33880, 27 June 1975, Page 17

Sir George Wood (75) looks to the future

, • (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON. Sir (xiorge Wood. aged 75. retired on Wednesday from his second career — the chairmanship of the Consumer Council — hut he seems unlikely to embark on a sedentary existence.

Seventeen years ago he officially retired from his distinguished public service career and the position of Government Statistician: a year later he was appointed chairman of the newlyfounded Consumer Council. the 16 years of 40-hour, unsalaried weeks he has dedicated to consumer rights since then are not about to come to an abrupt end. He says he has lost none of his enthusiasm, and plans to maintain his involvement bv acting as a consultant, and doing research. He envisages the council and institute providing more help for what he calls the less favoured section of the community. “We're going to have to go out into the community instead of waiting for it to come to us,” he said. The Minister of Trade and Industry’ (Mr Freer) asked us to inquire about the possibility’ of setting up an advice service for Polynesians. and I'm glad to say

enabled this because they ( have allowed the council, independence, and never! interfered with work undertaken. “That independence is vital to build and maintain, the confidence of the public, which has been shown in the constantly increasing: membership — from 1700 in 1959 to 129,000 today,” he] I said. He sees the laws of defa-i i mation as having played an-! other important part in the 1 efficiency of the organisaI tion. The threat of court ac-i ■ tion lies constantly over the] council’s head, because it] ■names manufacturers and; ; sometimes makes unfavour-; (able comment on their! products. The fact that the council j has yet to be prosecuted; ; bears" testimony to the scru-! j pulous nature of the testing,] he believes. The annual report the; council must table in Parlia(ment also acts to keep the] (welfare of consumers to the] j fore of the council’s think-] i ing. he says. ! “That’s a record which; only Norway exceeds on the! ! international scene,” Sir' George said.

that already we have ap-li pointed two people to look' after this tn Auckkland. “One is half Samoan, the other a Tongan. Both speak ' the language of their Islands, and the Tongan speaks Nuiean as well. “They will fill a large gap in our communication, but' we will have to make better! efforts in the welfare liaison ( field than that. “Those efforts will mean] working closely with citi-i izens' advice bureau and other community-based or-| ganisations.” Sir George also believes that consumer testing of: farm products is vital. Isolated products havejt been tested, and the council; is setting up a programme, that will result in the publi-, cation of quarterly maga-] zines for farmers. The first j of these is expected to be! available early next year. The New Zealand con-; sumer service has won a] world-wide reputation for ef-j ficiency and effectiveness,] for which Sir George is] given much of the credit. He thinks the sympathy of; successive Labour and Nat-! ional " Governments has

. “It has also meant that we, (can achieve the other part of] lour complementary function] — to encourage the devel-1 ; opment of trade and in-] dustry, and increase the! . standard of products to; manufacturers’ benefit. “Many times suggestions i we have made have resulted in a better product, and in' ■i some cases the improvements have opened up new; | export markets for the com-' ■panies concerned.” Sir George was in-: .jstrumenta! in setting up a! ,I complaints advisory service] lin 1973. It heard 12,648 com-; '(plaints last year, and failed: Uto get redress in only 1.2: | per cent of the cases consid-i ‘ered to warrant it. He recalls some amusing; l! complaints, such as the one: !of a woman who considered , I that her carpet had acquired] ; a hole far too quickly after] ■' purchase. ’ The secretary went along] ■j to inquire, and was surprised to find that it was one of 'the quality brands. The! ] mystery was solved when] •I the woman’s small son cam,e| Min on his tricycle for morn-i ■'ing tea and did a skidding i stop at the table — where ;the hole was. '