THE GREY RIVER ARGUS. THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1924. WHERE NEW ZEALAND LOSES.

Grey River Argus, 31 July 1924, Page 4

THE GREY RIVER ARGUS. THURSDAY, JULY 31, 1924. WHERE NEW ZEALAND LOSES.

Wo are t(»ld that private consumers uf certain manufactured goods are at the present time using the mails to import extensively to Greymouth from the Old Country. It is evident that New Zealand is losing money by the neglect of its secondary industries. A reasonable plea was made during the Atldress-in-Reply debate by several members of Parliament fur the fostering of secondary industries in the Dominion. It was pointed out that the ability of the country to meet its great financial burdens demands a larger population and therefore a wider margin of production in order to employ such a population. Certain politicians, and not a few professional expounders of economics at our educational institutions, have tried to tester tin' notion that our destiny as a nation will virtually be limited tu primary production, such as foodstuffs and raw wool,, and yet the same people are advocates on a large scale of immigration,, though they know that, unless there are secondary industries.

the farmers will be unable either to employ the new-comers or to loot, the bill for the national debt. It is rightly pointed out that it we are ing twelve millions on hydro-electrical development, there will be plenty of cheap power for secondary industries, such as the manufacture of woollen, iron and other goods, and the State's duty is to sec that the power available is not wasted, but fully utilised. At present the State is advancing Tiioney to.farmers and others, and there is no reason why it should not likewise make advances to industrialists in order to enable them to establish profitable industries. The security should prove at least as good as that being obtained for the present advances made by the State. Tn 1901 there were 41,257 employed in our secondary industries, and in JI years the number increased to 61.068, but there could be an increase of far more than 20,000 effected in the next decade should the Government get. rid of the notion that we must remain tied up to the British manufacturers. The statistics show that the cost of material used in industries in the Dominion in the year ended March 31, 1901, was nearly £7,000,000, ten years later it was nearly £21,000,000, and in the year ended March 31, 1922, it was over £40,000,000. If the State Advances Department had £.10,000,000 made available for the establishment of new industries, and gave a modest measure of tariff protection for a while, the secondary production could be speedily trebled. At present, the dependence on the private banks thwarts enterprise*, despite all the talk that State. activity has that effect. It is computed that the imports

to this country cost the consumer onethird more than they should, on account. of duties, profits, and freights. Of course, there are those who say customs taxes are essential when onethird of all revenue goes to meet debt, charges, but if there were a greater volume of Dominion secondary pro duction, facilities for income taxation would be greater, and customs taxation Would be less required. There are, of course, certain industries which the State should absorb, rather than leave to private enterprise, in the meantime, such as the mines; and above all the State should take over banking, which could be made the capacious source of financial aid to secondary producers. The latter add a far greater margin of value to raw material than do primary producers, and it would help New Zealand vastly wer<* the country to retain for itself the margin of value at present secured by manufacturers abroad from the raw materials which we export to them.