"PROCEEDING WELL"

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 108, 3 November 1939, Page 9

"PROCEEDING WELL"

LOCAL PRODUCTION OF

RANGES

Commenting on the Hutt Valley Power Board's discussion, Mr. W. H. Stevens, president of the Wellington Manufacturers' Association, said that the position had not been properly indicated.

"The manufacture of ranges in New Zealand is proceeding well, and the market is being supplied with firstclass articles at competitive prices," he said. "The Hutt Valley Power Board has not been very sympathetic and helpful in the matter of purchasing goods which are made in our own country. Several members .of that board apparently favour the purchase and use of electric ranges imported from other countries, and the factory mentioned in the discussion has never previously been asked to supply the requirements of the board.

"It should be remembered that if an imported article is required under ordinary circumstances, it would take four to five months for it to be landed in New Zealand, while the Power Board apparently expects to be able to ring up a factory and secure delivery of all its requirements on the spot.

"The New Zealaind manufacturers can, ancl will, properly look after the requirements of electric ranges, and are quite prepared to extend their already considerable manufacturing facilities from time to time in order to meet the demand. For instance, a Wellington factory has almost completed the building of very extensive additions, and provided the firm is able to secure overseas credits for the purchase of necessary materials, .the operations of that factory can be so extended that it will more than cater for any increased demand.

"The members of the Hutt Valley Power Board should remember that their customers are people who earn their living in. New Zealand., and they should be alive to the fact that local manufacturing should be encouraged to the utmost extent, in order not only to conserve overseas credits, but to provide employment for that great army of industrialists which now relies dn our manufacturing industries for its livelihood."