HON. E. P. LEE IN DUNEDIN

Otago Witness, Issue 3509, 14 June 1921, Page 25

HON. E. P. LEE IN DUNEDIN

ENTERTAINED BY MANUFACTURERS’ ASSOCIATION. A social evening was held at the Savoy lounge room on the 9th in connection with the Dunedin Manufacturers’ Association to uitercl members an opportunity of meeting the Hon. E. R. Lee, Minister oi Industries and Commerce, who is at present on a visit to Dunedin. The president of the association (Mr \V. it. Hayward) was in the chair, having on hie right hand the guest of the evening. Proceedings opened with the singing of the National Ailtllem, after which the Chairman briefly announced the object of the gathering. Mr E. iveiic.tt, AI.P said ho was sure that during his visit Air Ice must have been struck with the proenss that, had been ma do- in tile industries of Dunedin. ilio lion. E. P. Lee, who was received with applause, touched briefly on what he had seen during his visit to indusiries in Dunedin and Christchurch, and then touched upon the question of tar ill revision. He contended that if the State came to the assistance of industries, jt lnid _ a right_ to see that the charges for articles manufactured were reasonable. The Government could not be expected to assist in production and not have some power to regulate prices. Very often competition would do that work, but there were articles in which the competition was slight, and in such cases the regulation of prices might be necessary. He would like to quote them some figures regarding the industries of the dominion. The 1919 statistics showed that the manufactories of the dominion provided work for nearly 67,00-0 people, and had produced a value of £16,794.073, and had fixed assets of the value of £25,500.000. The number of establishments was 2254 in 1891, 3163 in 1901, and 3377 in 1919. The productive employees numbered 25,633 in 1819, 41.197 in 1901 and 61.729 in 1919 Value added by manufacture was j £0,837,974 in 1891, £5,491,744 in 1901, and £16,794,073 in 1919. They had passed tho stage of considering whether it was wise to establish industries. They had established them, and some of these were in a very large way. They had in their cities a very large population engaged in these industries, for whom probably there was no other outlet of employment. He hoped the Government could with advantage to the people encourage these industries. It was not always the case that if a man was paying a little dearer for an article ho was being penalised. They were keeping the money in the country and obtaining an article superior to and that would last longer than that they got from other countries. In conclusion, ho wished the association every success. and congratulated it upon the work it had done in assisting to establish industries. —(Applause.) Mr O. J. Wave] then addressed the association upon the proposed industrial exhibition at Wellington.