PRODUCTION AND COSTS OF PRODUCTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22421, 16 November 1934, Page 10

PRODUCTION AND COSTS OF PRODUCTION

TO THE EDITOR Sir, —You published this morning an account of the address of the president of the New Zealand Manufacturers' Association. Various times I have read similar statements in your paper made by interested men. Is it not about time you put the true position of affairs before the people of New Zealand, pointing out plainly where the trouble lies, and not resting till you get it remedied? . To be brief, this is essentially a primary producing country on account of the soil fertility and geographical situation. It costs as much to send manufactured goods from Dunedin to Auckland as it does from England to New Zealand. Twothirds of our population should be producers —at the present time two out of every three children are being educated to enter wrong avenues of employment. Over-education and useless education are killing the country. Yet nobody in authority eays a word. The Arbitration Court and the tariff have ruined New Zealand. The one bolsters up the other, and so the drift goes on. Stop all this and get down to common sense and reduce production costs 50 per cent., so that we can sell our products on the British market at a profit. It is useless to pretend any further that this country can prosper when the people who buy our goods are only getting half the wages of those that are engaged in producing them. When a president talks about the wages paid in industry being of more value than the wool cheque received it is time something was done. If he had said that if we received double the value for out products this year and spent half the wages in useless manufactures you could understand that he knew what he was talking about. Why not find markets in France and Germany? They would take our products if we took their goods. We' cannot live by taking in each other’s washing. ~ X have given you a lead, Bir. It is for you to see that action is taken to ensure our success for the future.—l am, etc.. Pathfinder. November 15.