IN NEW ZEALAND

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 36, 6 November 1943, Page 4

IN NEW ZEALAND

Keeping In Step With Rest Of World ACTION NOW URGED Dominion Special Service, DUNEDIN, November 5. A suggestion that a small committee representative of commercial, manufacturing and primary industries should be set up to keep in close touch with what was being done overseas and to advise the Government on post-war planning was made by the president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand, Mr. N. B. Spencer, Auckland, in his address to the annual conference today. The committee could collect and collate all information and statistics regarding post-war planning and place them before the Government with its own suggestions as to any action needed to keep New Zealand in step with the rest of the Empire, he said. As far as New Zealand was concerned, import licensing must be continued at least over the transition period and perhaps longer. “For a number of years after the war, we will probably as a country have to live on our exports," said Mr. Spencer. “For some time at’ least Great Britain may not be in a position to lend us money. Consequently the amount of our imports will be governed by what is left over from the sale of our exports after interest on overseas loans has been paid. “In these circumstances our imports must be carefully watched so that we may be sure that the goods being imported arc those which will be a greatest benefit to the country as a whole. To ensure this, I would urge the setting up of a committee by the Government to control the issue of -import licences. This is such a vitally important thing for the country that I feel strongly that it should not be left in the hands of a Government department. The committee should not be too large, but should consist of a representative of commerce generally, a representative from the manufacturing interests and one from the primary industries, together with a representative from the Department of Industries and Commerce. This committee would have the responsibility of collecting information regarding the needs of the country and of allocating all import licences to the primary industries, to manufacturing industries, and to commerce in general, subject of course, to any general policy laid down by Parliament. Secondary Industries. The committee could atso advise the Government on the extent to which .wartime manufactures should be continued after the war. It was the export of primary products which brought the credits by which we bought the raw materials which kept most of our fac* tories going. Therefore, he felt that, getting down to basic principles, .preference should Ibe given to the needs of primary producers when import licences were being allocated. Preference in. the allocation of manpower should! also be given. Our primary production for some time had been dropping, and he felt that .primary producers had. not had the help aud encouragement which they had a right to expect. , We must have industries and manufactures to give employment to those who could hot be employed! or did not wish to be empfloyed on the land. But a proper and economic balance must be kept. During the war many manufactures had been started whiclj. in peace-time would be entirely uneconomic. “II would strongly suggest,” said Mr. Spencer, “that the Government.make, a survey of all manufactures, obtaining information regarding their requirements of raw material from overseas, the added value given to the raw material in the manufacture, the number of persons employed and a comparison of the price of each commodity with overseas prices.” It would be part of the wonk of the committee to grade,all manufacturing industries in accordance with their value in the economic life of the country, particularly their capacity to employ the largest amount of labour for the smallest amount of overseas money, used. After the pressing needs of primary producers had) been met overseas funds should be used to provide raw material for those manufactures which were considered .by the committee to Ibe economic and to provide for the import of certain manufactured articles which might be considered by the committee to Ibe essential for the welfare of the country, and which could not be manufactured economically here. Housing Finance.

“The present Government housing scheme if carried on after the war as it has been in the last few years will tend to cause grave financial difficulties, par-, ticularly if the finance is obtained from the Reserve Bank as it has been in the past,” said Sir. Spencer. The ' scheme provided for the erection of 16,000 houses a year. This would mean an annual outlay of over £20,000,000. Nearly all of this money would moan added purchasing power in the hands of the .public which would tend to rising prices and inflation, followed by a slump. Even if the money for housing were raised by loan it would not completely cure the trouble, as the loans were not always subscribed by the general public in whose hands the purchasing power rested. The only satisfactory way would be to allow the sale of all Government houses at little over cost price. If the purchaser had not all the cash available some or all could be left on table mortgage similar to the State Advances Department mortgages o? to building, society mortgages, bit- with a maximum term of 20 years. In this Way the purchasing power in the hands of the public would not be raised to any appreciable extent. Also, a great deal of use could be made of the building societies 3nd local bodies in providing housing. “The shortage of houses has become so great during the war that the building and allied industries will probably be the greatest single avenue of providing employment after the war,” said Mr. Spencer. “I feel sure that if restrictions were removed and it were left to private enterprise the shortage would be made up very quickly without any resort to State finance or inflationary methods, and with very much greater satisfaction to the public'generally.”