SECONDARY INDUSTRIES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 21, 22 December 1937, Page 8

SECONDARY INDUSTRIES

VALUE OF EXPANSION. IMPROVING THE MARKET. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Dec. 21. The great future ahead of secondary industries in New Zealand and- the building up of a larger national income and consequently larger market for both local and imported products were discussed by Mr L. WithalL general secretary of the Associated Chambers of Commerce of Australia, at a luncheon tendered him by the Wellington Manufacturers’ Association. “It is claimed by critics that the development of local , manufacturing diminishes trade with customer countries,” said Mr Withall, “but the bald truth is to the contrary. We need not travel far for evidence on that point In New Zealand imports from Great Britain are £22.000.000 a year, the total imports being £44,000,000. Australian imports from the United Kingdom are roughly £50,000,000, and the total imports from all countries well over £100.000.000. The iron logic of the position is that the more manufacturing industries are fostered in New Zealand, the greater the spending population you will have, the larger your national income will become, and the bigger the volume of overseas as well as internal trade- For many years in Australia the farming community was opposed to a protective industrial policy. Such opposition, however, no longer exists to any significant extent for the primary producers have seen that a bigger home market for their products and better prices have followed from industrial expansion.” .