INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 118, 15 April 1930, Page 4

INDUSTRIAL PROBLEMS

COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY. REMEDIES SUGGESTED. Industrial problems in New Zealand were surveyed in a paper by Rotarian James Fletcher, of Auckland, read by Rotarian F. R. B. Chin at the Palmerston North Rotary Club yesterday. ' The paper opened with a parable. Two men Were driving over a very muddy road. The car became bogged in the mud. The driver got out to push and the passenger, in his kid boots and spats, thought he'ought , to do something. He ~ot out on the running board and pushed. ' That wns the trouble to-day; too many industrialists had got their kid boots and spats .on; they were jvjst on the running board, skaking the car. Industry was sick because wo were persisting with antiquated methods. How many factories were planned or built specially for their industrial use? How many were equipped with machinery laid out on a plan to secure maximum efficiency ? How ihany industries were prepared to offer places for young men of education and stamina? what was wanted was to interest men of' resourse and outlook, to lay out plant and machinery effectively, to refuse to tolerate antiquated machinery; to bring together interests and to organise them into groups. The paper advocated the unit principle of factory construction, which provides for factory buildings being divided into areas let out to tenants who are charged a fixed sum for floor space, including rates, power, light, heating and water. This system reduced the cost and increased business, It increased efficiency and reduced bankruptcies. Investors' should, bo prepared to lend their money to invest in factory blocks for industrial purposes. This was a sounder and safer investment than were residential flat blocks or (office buildings. The trouble to-day was that the email industrialist froze his capital in buildings and starved, his necessities in plant and machinery. IMPORTANCE OF INDUSTRY. “Industry—we call it, our .secondary industries —does not receive the importance it deserves,’.’' continued the paper. “We .are. prone to think along the lines of the man on the land and give undue importance to his work. I frankly admit the' great work of the primary producer,. I appreciate the endeavours that have been made to enlarge the scope of the primary producers. I approve of the greatest encouragement being given to the settlement of our idle lands, but I do not approve of settlement methods that only result in the retirement \ of a proved farmer from his highly improved farm and the substitution of a few' men, probably less efficient, in his place. The cure of our unemployment problem lies not along a land settlement policy only, but along the line of a vigorous industrial movement.” The paper criticised the ineffectiveness of the Department of Industries and Commerce which, it-stated, budgeted for the paltry sum of £20,000 per year. It had no funds; it had no scope. Rlotarian Fletcher suggested the merging of tho Departments of Industries and Commerce , and Industrial Research, and removing them from the political arena. He suggested giving the new department power to insist on costing systems and efficiency methods; he would give the department power to authorise, within limits, financial assistance to industry; lie would go further and make the department specialists in rationalsaton. The Department of. Industrial Research had proved the uneconomic and unsound basis on which tho industries were trying to carry on, but it could only recommend cures, having no executive power. Jn one industry . one firm had the foresight to seek the department’s co-operation to put things right.. The result was. a reduction in machinery costs with all round benefits. POSITION OF MERCHANTS. “And where do' our merchants stand in this industrial development?” proceeded the paper. “I say our merchants are not interested in industry. They are apostles of land settlement. Do they recognise that only one man in seven is, .or can be, employed on the land? There is great spope for them in industrial development. I do not suggest large scale production, necessitating tariff walls, but I do say

that industries should receive such assistance as is reasonable or economic.” Tlie papor referred to the condition of the wool industry by individual endeavours to produce a multiplicity of lines, tho quantity of which.must, of necessity,* be on an uneconomic basis. The public was paying for this state of affairs. Tlie boot v.-ade was crying out for re-organisation. '■ Referring to the desirability of the manufacture of agricultural plant in New Zealand, the paper stated that at Onakaka was produced the finest pig iron. Factories should be operating and inside of twejvo months employment for hundreds of skilled and unskilled workers assured. Tlie railways would be busy.. Substantial gains would accrue to tlie country’s revenues and industry would soon be assisted by lower taxation charges. “I believe that, with a littlo research and encouragement, there is no. possible reason why the whole of the country’s requirements should -not bo manufactured locally,” added Rotarian Fletcher. “This • is- what might be done with industry. This is a cure for unemployment. THE FINANCIERS’ PART. “What of the financiers? Are they using their capital to make conditiousof life better and the reward of labour more just. The financier should use his capital not to make more money, but to make money do more service. What is the attitude of our financiers towards new industrial propositions? They are coldly sceptical and are too prone to back old-fashioned organisations. When young, efficient industry arises, as it mustj these financiers will find themselves involved in colossal losses through failure to recognise the necessity for ‘other times, other methods.’ Thero is n wonderful future for this country if wo can get our financiers and thinkers off. tho running board, out into tho. mud, to get the wheels moving again,” con-1 el uded the paper. | Tlie president (Rotarian L. H. Collinson) considered that there were many suggestions in the paper worth going into; he would suggest a discussion by members. At present primary industries were thought the most' important, but secondary industries should also be relconed with. Rotarian,s A. Seifert, J. C. Young and H. E. Pacey agreed to discuss the paper at the next meeting. Rotarian Chin wns thanked for reading the paper. « ' •