Book charges denied

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34026, 15 December 1975, Page 10

Book charges denied

The Printing Industries Federation has attacked a statement by the president of the Publishers' Association (Mr J. H. Richards) that it was impossible for all New Zealand

books to be printed in ■ this country. A federation spokesman (Mr D. L. Donovan) said that Mr Richards’s assertion that New Zealand did not have ! the necessary machinery, paper, and workers was ‘‘disguising the true position.” “If there is a shortage of .paper it is only because of import restrictions which, jcuriously enough, apply to paper and not to books,” said Mr Donovan. “And if we don’t have the necessary machinery it is only because no sensible could justify the inistallation of costly binding ! machines as long as Mr Richards need not worry lishers continue to have their ! books manufactured in 11 foreign countries.” Mr Donovan said that Mr ’ Richards need no tworry ■ about any shortage of ■lworkers. If there were jobs

available, the printers would find the men to fill them. “However, they won’t work like the ones in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan,” said Mr Donovan. “They won’t work 80 to 100 hours a week for 25c an hour.” In his statement, Mr Richards commented on a decision by the New Zealand Printing Trades Union and the Australian Printing and Kindred Industries Union that all books published in New Zealand and Australia for the domestic markets must be printed in those countries. He said that any action to ban books printed in other countries would contravene an international U.N.E.S.C.O. convention which required a free flow of books between countries. Mr Donovan accused the publishing industry of sheltering behind the convention to have books printed in low-cost Asian countries to the detriment of the domestic printing industry. If the publishers had “paid more than lip service” to the concept of a strong domestic printing industry they would now ha'’e no reason to complain of its shortcomings. “The Government should decide whether a minor tech-

nical breach of the Florence (U.N.E.5.C.0.) Agreement would perhaps be preferable to the inevitable destruction of the nation’s ability to make is own books,” said Mr Donovan.