SECONDARY INDUSTRIES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17918, 24 October 1932, Page 2

SECONDARY INDUSTRIES

EFFECT OF OTTAWA PACT HANDICAP TO DOMINION ‘FINANCIAL POLICY DICTATED” (Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day “I appreciate the difficulties that our delegates at the Ottawa Conference were faced with, I quite realise that it was not an easy matter for them; and I cannot say that I am disappointed with the results. lam one of those who never did expect that any great results would accrue from the Ottawa Conference, but I do believe that we have got the worst of the bargain as far. as our secondary industries are concerned, and that the benefits that our primary producers will derive will be very small indeed,” stated Mr. D. W. Coleman, Labor member for Gisborne, in the course of his speech on the Ottawa agreement in the House of Representatives. In his .opening comments on the agreement to the House, Mr. Coleman remarked, that the previous speaker, the member for Eden, had mentioned that discussion of the agreement was a waste of time, as the Dominion was already committed to the terms of the Ottawa pact, Mr. Coleman agreed witji the member for Eden on the point that the House should have had an opportunity for discussing the business of the conference before the departure of the New Zealand delegation for Canada, stating that had that opportunity been given. ! the delegation would have been able to present a representative opinion on the business of the conference,. instead of having to voice only fheir personal opinions. The member for Eden had made somo interesting remarks, too, upon the haphazard way Cabinet had. of dealing with vital questions concerning the tariff, and in view of that member’s experience as a member of Cabinet, it was to be supposed that he knew./\vhat he was talking about. “TRADE BARRIER” The Minister of Public Works, when submitting his statement on the confer, ence, had stated that they must begin by removing trade barriers, which had been largely responsible for the impoverishment of the world. Mr. Coleman considered, on the other hand, that the policies of Governmenta such as that represented by the .Minister had been largely responsible for the general impoverishment. Taking up the effect of the Ottawa agreement on the Dominion of New Zealand, Mr. Coleman claimed that the New Zealand delegates apparently had not realised that the Dominion had any secondary industries at all. The speaker realised that the primary producers played an important part in the national life, and he was prepared to give their interests . every consideration. They were entitled to what benefits, could be secured for them from the conference, and the delegation had done right so far as that Avas concerned. Mr. Coleman pointed out, hoAvever, that the time, had arrived when secondary industries in the Dominion, must receive careful consideration. The House had been told that on every bale of wool and on every carcase of meat exported, the primary producers were losing money, meaning that the more they produced the greater was the loss. The natural contention in the face of this argument, was that attention must he. urned to secondary industries. The Dominion must make it possible for Dominion manufacturers to manufacture what was required for Dominion consumption, and Mr. Coleriian expressed the fear that the Ottawa agreement would not tend in this direction. "INDUSTRIES DISSATISFIED’ On behalf of the agreement entered into at Ottawa, it had been said in the course of the debate that the secondary industries had been perfectly satisfied, this statement being made on the authority of Air. Campbell, president of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation. This gentleman, said Mr. Coleman, Avas a furniture manufacturer, and it was quite possible that his business would not be affected in any way by the agreement. Indications from other sources had bcim given which showed that Mr. Campbell was pot speaking for the manufacturers of this country in this matter. The manufacturers in general were not pleased, but indeed were very dissatisfid with the Ottawa agreement, Mr.. Coleman contended, the speaker quoting press reports regarding a proposal to have a deputation wait on the Minister to object to the agreement. The speaker felt that their dissatisfaction was fully justified; Mr. Coleman quoted further press reports as evidence that dissatisfaction with the Ottawa agreement avus not confined to the manufacturers of New Zealand, including cabled messages referring to resignations of Ministers from the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The people of the United Kingdom were asked to concede a great deal, under the agreement, and even their suffering would not help New Zealand very much; while the price the Dominion wa3 asked to pay in the matter of secondary industries Avould react very detrimentally upon the situation in this country. Tno speaker reviewed the principal effects of the agreement, as he interpreted them, and referred to a number of different branches of secondary industry which would be severely handicapped by the removal of tariffs which had furnished protection to them in the past. In striking! a blow at one industry, he pointed out, the agreement Avould 'linA'e the effect of hurting all allied industries. "I was very much concerned on reading articles 8 and 9 of the pronosed agreement,” said Mr. Colemau, "and the more I read them the more concerned I became. At- first they;appeared to me to be quite ambiguous; and as I read them and pondered over them I was afraid that, not (Only had we placed ourselves in the position of being dictated to bv the financial magnates of the United Kingdom, but that we run a A'erv grave risk of placing ourselves, by this agreement, in tire, hands of the industrial magnates of Britain. 1 feel that not onlv is our financial Molicv to.be dictated to us, but that the day is not far distant Avhen our industrial policy also will be dictated to.us.”