The Dominion. THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1936. MANUFACTURING IN NEW ZEALAND

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 224, 18 June 1936, Page 8

The Dominion. THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 1936. MANUFACTURING IN NEW ZEALAND

Manufacturing in New Zealand has had a hard struggle, to establish itself. The country has wonderful resources for building up its primary industries, and its enthusiasm for production,, more production and still more production” from the land, tended, in the boom years following the war, to throw the economic, machine out of balance. That was one of the reasons why depression hit us so hard. Too many of our industrial eggs were in the primary basket. Now, as we build forward toward new prosperity, we are consciously aiming at a more equal distribution of enterprise. Although for very many years to come farming must remain the mainstay of oui economy, New Zealand is no longer wholly “one big farm. She is a manufacturing country. How much so, and with what success, is shown in the pages of to-day’s supplement. There are stories there between the lines of which one may read of. rare courage and high adventure —of cases in which one or two pairs of hands in a backyard workshop or its equivalent have founded firms and whole industries, which to-day employ hundreds of New Zealand, workpeople and market products fit to be measured against, the world’s best. Grit and perseverance have accomplished wonders in the country’s short industrial life—and will do so again given the sympathetic interest of Government and the loyal co-operation of the buying public. The public’s responsibility in this matter is too,often overlooked. Our industries produce almost exclusively for the domestic market. They employ New Zealand capital and New Zealand labour, for the most part they work with New Zealand raw materials, and they pay taxes in New Zealand. But unless the New Zealand consumer supports them, they fail. If they could not “deliver the goods’’ the buyer might have some excuse for not supporting them—if, for instance, they asked him to pay a higher price for goods of poorer quality than could be bought elsewhere. But the better type of manufacturer seeks no such special favouritism. If he did, he would not deserve to be given it. On the other hand, when he offers an. article which compares most favourably, in price as well as in quality, with that of his competitors, not only does he deserve support, but also the economic well-being of the Dominion demands that he be given support.