CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25364, 23 October 1943, Page 3

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

SOUTH ISLAND CONFERENCE The conference of South Island chambers of commerce will commence at Dunedin on Wednesday, November 3, and will be continued on the following day. The visiting delegates will be welcomed by the president of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce (Mr J. B. Stewart) and after the election of a chairman the conference will proceed to the consideration of remits, among which are the following:— “That the conference, believing that a rapid and considerable increase in the population of the South Island is essential in the interests of New Zealand as a whole, calls on the Government and all South Island chambers of commerce, local bodies, and other interested bodies or persons to assist in every possible way all sound and economic projects for the extension of existing industries and the initation and development of new ones in this island.” . “ That the conference urges the Government to make an immediate investigation of all areas in the South Island that may be suitable for the application of irrigation, and to proceed as soon as possible with all schemes which are economically sound as a means of promoting rehabilitation and closer settlement and increasing the volume of our primary products, and urges individual chambers to push for the implementing of this policy.”

“That the conference calls the attention of the Government and local bodies in the South Island to the large areas of waste and low-grade land suitable for the planting of timber trees, and suggests that preparation be made now for afforestation on a wide scale as an ideal form of recuperation for returned servicemen and as a means of assisting in the much-needed replenishment of our timber supplies." “That, in view of a possible shortage of electrical power in the South Island owing to the ever-increasing demand from domestic consumers and manufacturers, and of the great encouragement to new industries which cheap power will afford, the Government is urgently requested to formulate a longterm policy for the South Island and to put in hand one or more new projects for the generation of electricity without delay.”