A PREPARED PLAN?

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23707, 14 January 1939, Page 12

A PREPARED PLAN?

There is more than the tone of complaint in the Prime Minister’s comment, touching criticism of the sudden introduction of control over the country’s import and export trade, that “it is remarkable the number of people who think that every item of detail in connection with the control of external trade should have been known to the Government before any step was taken.” What is remarkable, of course, is that the Government, after spending many months—according to its own claims—in perfecting its insulation policy, should finally and without warning introduce a plan which has had the effect of throwing the trade of the country into the utmost confusion. Even if it is

conceded that all of the difficulties of control as required by the new regulations could not be foreseen, the Government at least had an opportunity, by maturing its plans in consultation with the. trading community, to minimise the difficulties that have resulted inevitably from the policy of secrecy preferred by it. If the case of the manufacturing

industries is taken, evidence of the long and careful preparation claimed by Mr Savage simply does not appear. The Prime Minister has insisted, with regard to the expansion of local manufacturing, that the Government is now seeking to give expression to a matured conception. Yet it appears that none of the information most essential to a process of swift industrial development was at its disposal or at the disposal of the manufacturers themselves when control was inaugurated, “We have to have a better balance in industry and do more in the way of producing consumable goods,” remarks the Prime Minister. He was saying substantially the same thing three years ago. Now he adds, “ If the manufacturers are given a chance —and we are giving them a chance—l am sure they will do the job. The transformation cannot be made over the week-end; it will take time.” The point is that it would take less time—time being important in the present emergency —if intelligent preparation had been made for the day that has arrived. As things are the Manufacturers’ Federation is itself seeking to discover at this late stage vital facts which, it is reasonable to suppose, should have influenced the Government in bringing its own plan to the stage of “perfection” claimed for it. What is the present capacity of local industry to meet an increased demand for goods? What capacity might be reached after the lapse of six or of twelve months? What problems relating to the securing of additional labour, plant and materials'will appear for solution? These are inquiries of the utmost significance, yet they are only now being examined, at the instance of industry, not of the Government. In the circumstances it is not to be wondered at if evidence of hasty improvisation rather than careful preparation is discernible in the Government’s arrangements.