MANUFACTURER'S DECISIONTWO GREYMOUTH FACTORIES TO BE TRANSFERRED TO AUCKLAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 September 1949, Page 4

MANUFACTURER'S DECISION—TWO GREYMOUTH FACTORIES TO BE TRANSFERRED TO AUCKLAND

Greymouth is not ready for the development of secondary industries. This is'the yiew of Mr P. C. Peters, who has abandoned his efforts to operate footwear and clothing factories at Greymouth, and who is leaving the West Coast in November to transfer his factories to Auckland. Mr Peters, one of the pioneers on the West Coast of secondary industries largely selling their products elsewhere, told the Evening Star today of labour and transport difficulties facing such industries on the West Coast. High costs making it difficult to meet competition, and lack of co-operation in the town itself added to his problems, he said. Worth, on Mr Peters’s estimate, more than £12,000 a year to Greymouth in wages and profits, the two factories will cease operations within a month or so. Their closing will shut present employment avenues for some 30 Grey mouth men, women and youths. Starting in business as a shoe repairer in Greymouth some 18 years ago, Mr Peters began prior to the war to interest himself in the establishment of a footwear factory in Greymouth and purchased the headquarters of the Greymouth Oddfellows’ Lodge as a factory site. A licence was granted between 1938 and 1939, and in 1942 the business was established.

Early Problems “Right from the beginning, I found myself facing difficulties,” said Mr Peters today. “There was the major problem of labour. I tried to teach men, young men and women, a trade but I found I was simply wasting my time. There was a labour pool, but the young people did not have their minds on their work, and soon gave up ideas of learning a trade to take on more highly-paid jobs of a less skilful nature, which could be found in abundance.” Mr Peters said that he had been told by union representatives and the Labour Department that this footwear factory was the only one in New Zealand from which no complaint had been received against the employer. “Yet, on the average, I have had a new member on the staff every two and a half weeks since I started,” he said, “and the biggest staff I was able to engage at any one time was only 27. Fancy trying to teach people a trade, or even one operation, every two and a half weeks.

“The only answer was to produce only the more simple and plain articles and to abandon in the meantime plans for elaborate sandals and shoes, made-to-measure shoes and invalid shoes,” said Mr Peters. . The expense entailed in servicing the machines in the Greymouth factory was referred to by Mr Peters, who explained that a mechanic had to travel from Auckland to carry cut repairs, while spare parts could only be obtained from there. Machines had to stand idle for overlong periods awaiting spare parts and servicing, he said, and this was costly to a manufacturer. Transport Trouble The uncertainty of transport between Greymouth and the North Island, where there was the biggest demand for the West Coast-made sandals, created further problems said Mr Peters. Transport via the port of Greymouth, and even via Lyttelton. had to be abandoned, and the only route that could be adopted to suit the requirements of the factory was via Inangahua Junction, Nelson and Wellington, with all the extra handling it entailed. “With all these difficulties we find we cannot get our goods on to the market and to the customer at prices in comparison with other manufacturers,” he said. Though assistance had been given locally when a licence was first sought for the shoe factory, co-operation had not always been good since, said Mr Peters, and certainly no great effort had been made to make Greymouth an attractive place in which to establish secondary industries. As an instance, he cited the refusal of the borough authorities to allow a bridge to be placed over the street gutter so that

his raw material and finished products could be transported to and from the doorway of the factory. “We have to carry these heavy consignments to and from the doorway to the edge of the roadway,” he stated. Concessions in power and gas charges were items given consideration in some other centres, he said, to encourage secondary industries. “Our plant is capable of turning out between 1800 and 2000 pairs of sandals each week, and we could do this with 18 or 20 tradesmen, but we are producing only about 900 pairs, and this with up to 27 employees,” said Mr Peters. “That means that for a variety of reasons, we are getting only half the value from our equipment.” Two-thirds of the shoe factories in New Zealand are located at Auckland, and there should be fewer difficulties in obtaining skilled men, said Mr Peters.' Raw materials, which were now brought from Auckland to Greymouth by circuitpus routes, manufactured here and transported back for distribution in the North Island, could be converted more cheaply into footwear at Auckland and much more easily distributed, he said, pointing out the disadvantages under which West Coast factories operated. Clothing Factory Closing When he leaves Greymouth to establish his footwear _ factory in Auckland, Mr Peters will also take with him the clothing factory he established in Tairfui street, and will re-establish this business in Auckland also.

Transport and other difficulties mitigated against the success of the clothing factory, he stated. Only 24 hours were required to secure a licence from the Government for the clothing factory and for the importation of the machines, said Mr Peters, who compared this with the six months’ delay he was faced with in obtaining a permit from the Greymouth Borough Council to begin operations. “In the meantime, another enterprise realised the opportunities in this town for a clothing factory, and, while we lost precious time, this firm took advantage of the delay to become established in opposition,” he continued. Business Declined “We obtained an from a chain store organisation to supply all of its goods in the way of clothing. But we found that we" could not get the bulk material from Wellington with any regularity, and, on manufacturing the garments, we could not ship them back to Wellington with any certainty. As a result,” he said, “this opportunity which would have meant big business for Greymouth had to be declined.” Regret that circumstances had compelled him to give up his efforts in Greymouth, was expressed by Mr Peters, who, in conclusion mentioned that if times changed and the facilities here were made comparable with those in other centres for secondary industries, he would seriously consider returning to the West Coast. Under the, present circumstances, however, it would be unwise to remain and accept the handicap he had to overcome to compete with other manufacturers.