INDUSTRIAL INQUIRY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23703, 10 January 1939, Page 6

INDUSTRIAL INQUIRY

ADVOCATED BY IMPORTERS QUESTION OF ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY EFFECTS OF CONTROL SYSTEM The setting up of a Royal Commission to inquire into secondary industries in New Zealand is advocated in a statement issued by the Bureau of Importers. The statement, which outlines probable repercussions of the retrictions on imports, says: “The findings of an impartial commission would, we believe, be acceptable to every section of the community and would at least disclose the fact that New Zealand cannot be economically or advantageously self-sufficient.” The Bureau suggests that the commission should inquire particularly into the following industries: —Matchmaking. footwear, clothing, fruit preserving and jam-making, sauce and pickle making woollen manufacturing and hosiery. “After conferring with the various sections of our membership,” says the statement issued by the bureau, “we have endeavoured to ascertain the sequence in which the various importers concerned are likely to be affected. It is now obvious that the full repercussions will not be felt for a month or two and those whose services have already been dispensed with represent a very small majority of those who will ultimately be thrown out of employment. So far as the various departments of a business are concerned, it would appear that the effects will be felt by the following:—Selling staff, storemen and packers, clerical workers, executive officers. Businesses Affected “ Whilst one cannot forecast with any accuracy the order in which the various classes of business will be affected, the present indications are that the position will be as follows: Agents handling lines solely for delivery during the second period. Commission agents and importers handling prohibited lines such as sports goods, clocks, matches, canned fish, meat pastes, plated ware, artificers’ tools, etc.

Small agents and importers handling Japanese, German and Czechoslovakian goods. Dealers in fancy goods. Soft goods hands dealing in Canadian and Australian lines. Agents for luxury lines, such as refrigerators, radios, washing machines, etc. Soft goods agents and footwear importers dealing in United Kingdom lines.

Merchants handling household ironmongery and crockery. Wholesale houses only partially dependent on imports. Retail establishments chiefly dependent on imported goods. Local manufacturers and suppliers of industrial equipment.

“With the consequent reduction in imports the damage must spread, and the next section of the community to be affected will be the shipping companies, insurance companies handling marine risks, Customs agents and Customs officials, wharf labourers and tally clerks, carriers, and railwaymen. Whilst a certain number of these classes must be kept in continual employment, the volume of goods handled will be less, thus increasing the percentage of overhead cost to the importer: The great business of exporting and importing is by far the largest employer of labour in the Dominion, and when one considers that present indications are that our imports will be cut down by at least 40 per cent., it is easy to visualise the vast number who must be thrown out of employment.

Past Opportunity

“The Prime Minister (Mr Savage) assures us that New Zealand's secondary industries are to be given a chance. We maintain that our secondary pursuits have had that opportunity for many years and since 1931 have had protection of between 60 per cent, and 120 per cent., and still in many cases have failed to compete with the imported article. We are only too happy to see any economic industry prosper in New Zealand, but when the Government adopts a ‘ dog in the manger * attitude and says, in effect, that the local manufacturer must continue regardless of cost, we object knowing as we do that the public must ‘ pay the piper.’ V The prohibiting and quoting of imports will put many importers out of business and allow local manufacturers to proceed with industries which have already been proved uneconomic. We suggest that the time is opportune for the setting up of a Royal Commission to inquire into secondary industries in New Zealand. The commission, first and foremost, should ascertain whether an industry is able to manufacture economically. If such can be proved it should then be' determined what percentage of the New Zealand trade can be supplied, taking into consideration the following factors:— (a) The capitalisation of those firms engaged in the industry. (b) The efficiency of (1) the workers, (2) the plant and equipment. (c) The maximum economic output. (d) The percentage of (1) labour cost, (2) imported raw material, (3) locally produced raw material represented in the' tfalue of the output. (e) The protection necessary for the industry to compete with corresponding importations. “An impartial inquiry conducted along these lines would be in the interests of all concerned and would tend towards economic production and the cessation of any uneconomic industries which were being fostered under prohibitive tariffs.”