HELPING INDUSTRY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 257, 27 September 1935, Page 6

HELPING INDUSTRY

CO-ORDINATION BILL. PROPOSALS SUPPORTED. Comment was made, at a represeni tative meeting of manufacturers of Palmerston North, last evening, on the draft of the proposed Manufacturing Industries Bill which, it was explained, aimed at the co-ordination of manufacturing interests in the Dominion for the betterment of the industries concerned and the giving of greater service to the public. At the close of an address on the subject by Mr I. Matheson, treasurer of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Association, the following motion was passed unanimously: “That the proposed Manufacturing Industries Bill has the unanimous support of this meeting and, further, that this expression of opinion be conveyed by telegram to Hon. R. Masters, Minister of Industries and Commerce, and to Mr J. A. Nash. M.P.” It was possible, said Mr Matheson, that a decision on the proposed Bill would be made by Cabinet within the next two days. The draft had already been before Cabinet once and . had been discussed and -was to be discussed again. The origin of the scheme lay very largely in the report of the Tariff Commission. That re- \ port had said, in effect, that if the ' manufacturers of New Zealand were ! to retain the privileges of protection : they would have to put their house ( in order and bring about co-operation . where possible. The Bill proposed that a commission should be set up : which would be so constituted that it j would protect the interests of the , public and also assist the manufac- j turers. The commission would have . three main points of interest:- \ Tire first would be to collect infor- 1 mat'ion about manufacturing indue- ] tries, to study conditions of all lines f of industry engaged in manufactur- j ing and to bescome acquainted with i certain types of manufactures for 1 New Zealand and also the possibilities of development of those industries. r The second point was that the com- c mission should be a capable body a (having at least two manufacturers on s its personnel) so that it could advise c the Government on all questions aris- c ing from manufacturing. At the a present time there was no one in the o Government who understood the o manufacturing industries, so that the a

provision of a commission with such qualifications would enable it to advise the Government on the probable effects of certain changes of tariff o.- other measures. The third point embraced the coordination issue. The idea was that if any sections of industry could meet and sort out their difficulties and come to an arrangement among themselves, they could then go to the commission and say they had difficulties but could overcome them in a certain way. The commission would consider their sugand, if they were not detrimental to a minority in the industry, could make them a' legal and binding enactment having the full support of the law. Thus it could be seen that the matter was purely voluntary. STANDARDS OF QUALITY. Another matter that the commission would deal with could be standards of quality, the speaker added. There had been cases of some industries which had been ruined by the falling aurny of the quality of but one or two manufacturers’ product,s in the output of a number. There had been a case in the last 18 months of three industries which had built up their business through many years in a certain line. Two others saw that there “was something in it” and commenced J manufacturing the same articles. They ’ were manufactured under what could only be termed bad conditions and ce.sts had been cut to the bone, the savings being offset in a lowered standard of the finished product. The p*iblic did not take long to find out the low standard, and retailers received complaints. The result was then that they placed their orders with English firms, because the standard of the goods of all the New Zealand manufacturers wiys taken as being the standard of the inferior firms. Those two firms had done themselves no good, they had not made any appreciable amount, and they had ruined the market for the others. Had the proposed Bill been in operation the three original firms would have been able to go before the commission and arrange for fixed standards of minimum quality. Again there was the very obvious matter of territorial markets, proceeded the .speaker. That subject was more applicable to the heavy industries, such as those which produced heavy castings and thus had high transport costs to face. They could agree on the apportionment of territories, saying one would operate here and one there, or that two should operate in one area and two others in another. Some

h manufacturers might get together and f buy their raw material in bulk. Again, e there might be such ,subjects to he ff considered as protection for a certain time of particular industries. One ex- - ample was multi-colour printing. The f machine for doing that class of work t was very costly and no firm wished to s undertake the expense for fear that , another might buy a similar machine j in a short time. 1 3 SUPPORT NEEDED. All would support the proposed measure fully, remarked Mr W. Cook, ’ I who commented that the manufactur- } I ers of New Zealand had been looked . | unon so far Sis a sort of “Cinderella.” They were doing useful work and were giving good service. They needed some support to enable them to go on! . giving that service. In times of! . peace the manufacturer was left to I his own devices but in times of stress j . he was looked upon as a saviour. It j s was due from the manufacturers of i Palmerston North that they, should! i support the Manufacturers’ Associq-' ! tion '"n every way and also support! j the proposed Bill. Mr Cook then | moved the motion quoted previous-1 | ly, the seconder being Mr W. G. Black. j The proposal was idealistic, remark--1 ed Mr W. E. Turnbull, who explained, however, that it had his full support. There was human nature to he considered, he said. In prosperous times the proposal would work quite well, but in lean times there were other factors to be considered. He quoted the operations of the man known to manufacturers as the “backyarder,” the man who, thrown out of employment, produced goods in Iris own home and sold them at reduced rates. Again, there was a lowering of the class of workmanship. The standard of value would have to apply there as well. That standard of value would l>e set by the commission, said Mr Black. The proposed enactment -would increase the quality of the goods, it would give the manufacturers of New Zealand a definite say in their own affairs through a legal authority, and it would commend public support and confidence. _ Tire meeting could not go wrong in supporting the proposal, he averred The motion was then put and carried unanimously. OTHER POINTS OF THE BILL. In addition to the points touched on - by Mr Matheson, it is understood that < the proposed Bill would provide for the

industries commission to consist of the Minister (who would bo the chairman) and three other members (including a deputy chairman) to be appointed by the Governor-General-in-Couneil for a period of four years, save that any such member might be re-appointed or might be at any time removed from office by the Governor-General. Two members of the commission (one of whom would be the deputy-chairman) would he appointed on the nomination of the representative organisation of manufacturers. The expenses of the commission would be paid out of moneys to be appropriated by Parliament for the purpose ; and members of the commission (other tlian the Minister) would receive, from moneys to be appropriated ! by Parliament, such salaries and allow-ances-as might be approved by the 'Governor-General. Further, the memI bers of the commission would not, as ! such, be deemed to be permanent officers of the Public Service or subject |to the Public Service Act, 1912. At meetings of the commission three members would constitute a quorum, the Minister when present to have a deliberative vote only. The decision of the commission on any matter would be determined by a majority of the valid votes recorded, but in the event of only ' three members being present, a unanimous vote would be required for the endorsement of a co-ordination scheme.