A STUPID STATEMENT

NZ Truth, Issue 1078, 22 July 1926, Page 1

A STUPID STATEMENT

gO far members- of the Reform Party, particularly members of the Cabinet, have left it entirely to the. Prime Minister to indulge m 'the. dangerous practice of casting objectionable slurs on our secondary industries arid upon the efficiency of New Zealanders as skilled artisans. . '.',.'* • v Last week m the House, however, William Nosworthy, the Minister for Post and Telegraphs, ranged himself alongside '■ Gordon Coates m what at best can only be' termed a piece of colossal stupidity, ; He stressed the. importance of doing all that was possible for pur primary industries, but on the other hand— in making a statement to the effect that our secondary industries did not count for very much as against our primary exports— he indicated all too clearly that so long as he and men of his calibre were m office, secondary industries would never take their proper place ' m the life of this country. .% ■ "We must have a large population before we can go into secondary industries 'to any great extent. At present it is a question whether, the people employed m the production of boots could not be better employed otherwise."

It was typical of Nosworthy that he would pick upon a secondary industry that happens to be one of the most flourishing m New Zealand. But then, m all probability, the Minister is not aware to what extent this' industry has established itself despite the obstacles ; placed m its way by farmer-Cabinet .Ministers like himself and others at present governing New .Zealand. ' It is evident that Nosworthy •would take every skilled worker out of our secondary industrial field and dump him somewhere on the land. The fact that as matters stand at present, the primary field either cannot, or will not, absorb the large army of unemployed seems to have been lost sight of by the Minister. , , Another mutter that he appears entirely to have overlooked is the fact tliat the immigranlis at present entering the country either do not settle upon the land or soon drift back into the cities, thus swelling the number of unemployed craftsmen m an industrial field that is being giyen-no support by the Government.