DOMINION’S INDUSTRIES.

Evening Star, Issue 23744, 27 November 1940, Page 6

DOMINION’S INDUSTRIES.

Ix the address given at the annual conference of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation Mr 0. V, Smith, the retiring president, discussed matters that are of first importance to this country. His remarks related chiefly to the question of the expansion of the secondary industries, their overwhelming; importance at the present time, and the dangers of crippling taxation being imposed on manufacturing concerns. The need of increased production has been stressed by Ministers on many occasions. Efforts in this matter are handicapped by the withdrawal of so much man-power for war service. Speaking recently, the Prime Minister said it was folly to imagine that the war could be carried on without upsetting the equilibrium of the Dominion to some extent, and added that over 56,000 men had already been withdrawn from industry. When this and other difficulties that face the manufacturers of the country are remembered it should be the policy of the Government to avoid putting excessive burdens on their shoulders. In this connection the question of taxation is causing apprehension among those who conduct New Zealand’s industries. Speaking at the opening of the Manufacturers’ conference, the Minister of Industries and Commerce gave an assurance on this point. Nothing is further from the mind of the Government, Mr Sullivan said, than to impose unfair taxation. It was anxious that its legislation should not bo administered in a way that was going to restrict or retard qither the extension and development of existing industries or the creation and successful 'establishment of new industries in the future. These are fair words, and no doubt the Government after nearly six years in office has come to realise that excessive taxation on industry is only another term for ruination. The war has dislocated every branch of the Dominion’s economic life, and in the present circumstances the call is for unity of effort and the avoidance of administrative acts or legislation designed to favour any particular section of the community. This applies especially at the moment to taxation, and it should be the aim of the Government to see that this burden is fairly spread. That is merely a matter of common justice, but it should be clear also that if the impost is too heavily weighted against industry the whole of the economic life of the country will be thrown out of gear, to the detriment of its war effort, the choking of the channels of employment, and the embarrassment of the country as a whole. What Mr Smith said on the question of taxation should bo considered from a detached point of view, for its truth cannot be challenged. The speaker made it clear that it W'as not the amount taken in taxation that he was criticising. That is a matter that in war-time must be left to the discretion of the Government. His real point is that if too much is taken from industry, then industry cannot function successfully. Existing companies will be hampered and restricted in their operations and deterred from undertaking plans for expansion about which the Government expresses so much anxiety, and there will be a check on proposals for the establishment of .new industries. Mr Smith’s address was not a plea for the avoidance of taxation necessary for war and other essential purposes. It was an appeal for the spreading of the burden in an equitable way. Mr Sullivan said that ho and Mr Nash, as tho Ministers chiefly charged with the control of New Zealand’s financial and industrial activities, were agreed that the Dominion’s legislation shall not be administered in a way capable of restricting or paralysing the development of industry. That assurance, born of administrative experience, will be welcomed in financial and industrial circles.