TAKING STOCK

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18580, 14 December 1934, Page 5

TAKING STOCK

SECONDARY INDUSTRIES ' • % ’'»vi ; VALUE TO DOMINION NEED FOR- EXPANSION PROBLEMS TO BE FACED (Special to the Herald.) DUNEDIN, this day. Various questions .affecting the secondary industries of the Dominion were reviewed by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon G. W. Forbes, in an address to the annual meeting of the Dunedin- Manufacturers’, Association last evening., “Since the deliberations, of the ■ Tariff Commission and the publicity associated with its sittings, and, the subsequent discussion in Parliament, ’ said Mr. Forbes, “it is obvious that the importance of the secondary industries in the /-national economy is much more appreciated by the general community than in the past, and this is particularly so in view ot the unemployment situation. Consequently the Government is very anxious that secondary industries shall show a propCi development, so that more people may be employed in such a way as to contribute to the wealth of the country and the .Standard of living of its people. . ‘“I have repeatedly, during-the last few years, stressed the point of view that the development of industry is the main long rangie solution of our unemployment problems. 'Consequently, 1 welcome the recent disposition on the part of your association and federation to lay aside for the time being, direct tariff arguxnents -and concentrate on the problems of organisation for more economic production and on distribution, with the possibilities of extended employment.

VALUE DF INDUSTRIES “When I received the invitation to address you, I called for the returns of the persons engaged in various branches of the manufacturing industries, together with the values of the raw material and the finished product, so as to see, whether there were any indications as to which industries were now employing more operatives than four years ago, and in which industries the employment and production was decreasing. There have been similar analyses made available in Great Britain, add these have shown clefcrly that while employment in many of the older staple industries has been decreasing, there have been considerable increases in employment in the newer industries, such as those connected with the newer, technical developments, that is, the motor industry, rayon industry, radio industry, syntactic paint and moulded goods manufacturing industries and the like. “From a general study of the figures supplied to me it is pleasing to note that in spite of the continuing slump, _the number of persons engaged in secondary industries, the value of the raw material used, and also the value of the finished product, all show a small butt definite increase between the years 1932 and 1933, and a further increase seems to be forecast for the 1933-34 figures, which are, however, not yet completely available. DECLINE IN ENGINEERING

“I also notice that of the 68,QC0 employees in manufacturing industries, well Over one-third are engaged in the processing of the immediate products ■of primary, industry, e.g., dairy factories, meat works, etc., and that it is m these industries' that emmploymeut has more ' than held its own. For instance, in the meat freezing and preserving industry the numbers of persons engaged have increased from 5890 in 1930 to 7850 in 1933, while in the dairy manufacturing industry the number of employees has held its own at about 4100. “The figures relating to such industries as biscuit and confectionery making, 27C0, woollen milling, 2400, boot and shoe making, 2400, and clothing manufactoring, 7600, have about held their own, or if anything have shown a slight increase. “In engineering, however, the figures show a very decided reduction in employment. For instance, under the heading ’engineering,' there were 3455 persons employed in 1930-31, while in the latest figures available, 1932-33, the numbers were only 2330, while in coach-building, motor and cycle engineering, the figures fell from 6350 to-4550 in the same period, though no doubt the latest 1934 figures may show a partial recovery in these cases.

HIGH MANUFACTURING COSTS “It Would appear, therefore, that from the point of view of increased employment in the immediate future, we want not only an expansion of the present industries, but we require new ones, and also it seems desirable that the possibilities of sound large-scale gold mining should be thorougnly explored, and encouragement giiven to proper undertakings. An increased employment of several thousand men ip mining, which may not bp beyond the bounds of possibility, would react also by producing more employment in the engineering and timber industries and the manufacturing production generally. “From the casual analysis also, we may draw one or two interesting) conclusions: (1) The Increased employment to cope with our increasing primary production; and (2) that a small country like New Zealand lags considerably behind larger countries in the adaptation within its borders to the newer industries. There are, of course, many reasons why this should be so, firstly, because the technical developments leading to the new industries take place in the large countries, and, secondly, because many of these industries lend themselves more readily to mass production, so that the costs of manufacture on an initial relatively small scale in New Zealand are correspondingly high, and these industries have great difficulty in becoming! competitive.

CHANGES IN INDUSTRY “Another factor is the tendency since the war fof rapid changes in industry, both in regard to newer types of product using the same raw materials, and iri regard to the extent to which substitute products and new industries have developed, while at the same time the demand for' the products of these newer industries has become universal owing to the contact of these products brought about by improved communications and fer medium of the cinema, radio, etc. or instance, all the ladies now want silk stockings, artificial or otherwise, and Radios, electric appliances, etc., are in great demand, arm yet we find that an increasing proportion of the wages of the overwhelming mass of consumers of the community is being spent on the products of these newer industries. “I do not underestimate the great efforts of the woollen mammictu.r. boot manufacturers, etc., to keep up-to-date with fashion changes, etc., but these conditions, together with the tendency towards the replacement of the rule of thumb methods by more exact scientific control in industrial processes, undoubtedly point the way to some organisation by which industry can be kept up-to-date in its knowledge of technical problems of production, and also that the structure 'or organisation of industries should be such as to ten<Tto the most economical produqtiqn wtf distribution

"It was considerations such as the foregoing which led to the setting up.of the development of the Industries Committee two years ago, and, while unfortunately it may be true that not very much headway has been made in direct action, although some good results have been arrived at,' yet the studying of these problems has not been without its value, since the truth is that the public and manufacturers’ opinion regarding the possibilities of action, has only slowly grown and we cannot proceed ahead ol general public opinion.”