COLONIAL INDUSTRIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XL, Issue 12241, 9 April 1903, Page 4

COLONIAL INDUSTRIES.

SPEECH BY MR. S. BROWN. [BY TELEGRAPH.—OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Christcht/rch, Wednesday. Mr. S. Brown, the member of the Arbitration Court, whose remarks on the trouble in the Auckland furniture trade have been the subject of so much discussion lately, spoke at a social gathering at Timaru on Monday. He said he had been induced to take" a seat on the Arbitration Court, and could say that the Court was endeavouring to do what was fair between man and man, and to do as little mischief as possible. Speaking of the industries of the colony, he said he feared that for many years they would have to depend on their raw products. He did not think that people were very desirous of putting their money into manufacturing industries, as there were so many difficulties which beset the maintenance of manufacturing industries in New Zealand. He mentioned that in Christchurch it had been shown to the Court that the colonial manufacturer could not increase the cost of production without ruining his trade. Creating new industries involved a serious question. If an article cost Is to produce, and it could be imported for lOd, the imported article had the preference. For this reason he feared that for many years the colony must rely upon the production of raw materials.