OUR INDUSTRIES

Southland Times, Issue 19539, 1 May 1925, Page 9

OUR INDUSTRIES

ANNUAL OUTPUT OVER £76,000,000. STIMULUS OF CHEAP POWER. The secondary industries of New Zealand are making steady, if not phenomenal, progress. A statistical review is made of them annually by the Government Statistician, who shows in his latest report that the number of factory establishments, including meat works and dairy factories, is 4,461, an increase of 126 over the previous year. The better comparison is that of employees, who number 67,945. The increase of 3,287 was, with the exception of sawmilling (785), engineering (452), and printing (366) fairly evenly distribi ted, and the figures prove that the flax-milling industry has returned to its normal activity, after a severe depression. The output from New Zealand factories shows an impressive total value of nearly seventy-seven millions sterling, but the inclusion of such exported products as meat and dairy produce makes the figures somewhat unreliable as a guide to the real consumption of the New Zealand made goods in the Dominion. The value of the products of the secondary industries showed an increase last year of £3,142,000, the most noticeable being meat freezing and preserving, £548,377, and saw-milling, £452, 191. There were decreases in the value of outputs from dairy factories (£254,394), brewing (£109,986). and boot and shoe factories (£86,868). DISTRIBUTION OF INDUSTRIES.

The progress of Canterbury as a manufacturing area is evident from the comparative returns oVer a period of years. This follows the provision of cheap electrical power. Its absence in the past, says the Government Statistician, has handicapped New Zealand industries, but this is being overcome by the development of hydroelectric power, for which the Dominion is geographically ideal. Though steam power shows an increase, it is wholly accounted for by the electrical generating plants in Auckland province, and the report indicates a real falling off in the use of steam in New Zealand factories. The distribution of the country’s industries is shown clearly by the following particulars regarding each pro-

Those who advocate the working up of New Zealand wool in the country will reap some satisfaction from the fact that the New Zealand mills last year worked up 5,810,0001 b of scoured wool, valued at £607,018.

vince:— Employees. Output Value. Auckland 25,290 £25,764,000 Taranaki 2,450 4,979,000 Hawke's Bay 2,716 3,681,000 Wellington 15,493 15,386,000 Marlborough 589 484,783 Nelson 1,336 1,076,000 Westland 1,695 826,577 Canterbury 13,934 13,469,000 Otago 11,041 8,053,000 Southland 3,117 3,275,000