N.S.W. INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CXL, Issue 103, 29 October 1945, Page 6

N.S.W. INDUSTRY

PEACETIME WORK

DECENTRALISATION MOVE

O.C. SYDNEY, October 16. Three big New South Wales munir tion factories built during the war have been taken over by private firms to manufacture civilian goods, but most large business houses have shown a reluctance to leave coastal and established industrial areas for more remote centres. The problem is dealt with" in a report by the New South Wales Decentralisation Advisory Committee which was set up by the State Government in 1941, as part of the Reconstruction and Development Division, to check the expansion of secondary industries in Sydney and to encourage their establishment in country centres. . A group of American companies has taken over the big munition factory at Bathurst to manufacture famous brands of women's and children's footwear and wearing apparel. Mr. S. Marler, a merchant representing the American companies m Sydney, said that his father, his brother, and he controlled a number of factories, throughout the world, interested in the manufacture of apparel and footwear in association with prominent American manufacturers. "Our activities include England, France, Italy, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico New Zealand, Australia and, shortly, India," he added. "I arrived by air from San Francisco three weeks ago, with the idea of extending our activities here, and when I heard that the Bathurst plant was available, I approached the Government." The munitions plant at Orange has been taken over by the large Sydney electrical goods manufacturing firm of Emmco. The managing director, Mr. J. Carrol said his company would use the Orange factory for large-scale mass production of important domestic appliances, including washing machines and refrigerators. The factory would be equipped with the most modern plant obtainable, and, in addition, it was intended to use much of the existing machinery at Orange and other Government factories. The total capital involved would be about £750,000 Pacific Chenille-craft Co., of Sydney, will begin production at Goulburn within a fortnight of household furnishings and women's apparel. To try to induce other companies to follow a similar policy of expansion in the country the Decentralisation Advisory Committee urged the introduction of a licensing system for the erection and operation of factories. The committee claimed that any plan for decentralisation based on a mere appeal to manufacturers to set up industries in the country was not likely to make much headway; the existing system of railway rating was not conductive to decentralisation; prohibition of- the expansion for certain secondary industries in the metropolitan area could be justified on economic, social," and strategical grounds; and any worthwhile plan would have to offer inducements, backed by a measure of compulsion. There should be a Decentralisation Authority and a Decentralisation Research Bureau, to watch population and industrial trends, to investigate State, local, and overseas business propects. It would advise generally on the prospects for new secondary industries in the country.