A NEGLECTED INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 115, 19 May 1925, Page 6

A NEGLECTED INDUSTRY

The fishing industry in New Zealand is certainly not in the healthy condition that it should be. It has developed only at the slowest pace, and does not give promise of immediate rapid extension. The export trade is negligible, and the home market is capable of absorbing much larger supplies i£ it is properly developed. In saying this we do not disparage the efforts of the experts who have sought to build up the industry. The Chief Inspector of Fisheries has worked hard, and various Ministers of the Crown have" been sympathetic ; but there has not been the public support for development which has been behind the great primary industries of the land. Even the measures which have been devised have not attained their object. Advances for the purchase of boats and gear and the establishment of factories have not been taken up freely. We are unable to explain this, and we have suggested more than once that it should be the business of the Government to inquire' why its legislatiou is ineffective. Therp is room also for a thorough overhaul of marketing and distribution methods. That there are possibilities of great .development is proved by the statistics of the value of the British industry which were quoted yesterday by Mr. Hefford, the new fisheries expert. And, as Mr. HefFord rightly indicated, the fishing industry is of the greatest importance to an island people, because

it is linked with naval defence, just as merchant shipping is linked. Until the newly-arrived expert has had time to investigate conditions here, and form his conclusions, it would be premature to suggest what methods should be adopted to give the industry a helping hand: but we believe that man-power is an important factor which should not be overlooked. We hope that attention will be given to the suitability of this industry for development by immigrants selected from the North of England and Scotch fishing communities, whose industry, experience, and hardihood have built up a great industry" in' Britain.