SELF-PRESERVATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 732, 3 August 1929, Page 7

SELF-PRESERVATION

OUSTING INVADERS FROM NATIONAL NEST THE SHILLINGS DO IT "POR almost as long as the world has existed, it has beet: recognised that analogy is the best way of impressing facts on the minds of people who are loath to exercise their minds by listening to learned argument. Figures are said to talk, and per haps they do; argument is n force that can be very effective, but nothing holds the imagination of the average man more than a well-drawn parallel. I Consequently, the familiar story of I the stupid cuckoo that so lovingly ! tends the alien occupant of its nest i°. when applied to New Zealand industry, much more arresting than serried rows of figures or the parading of self evident facts. In this Dominion we have a comfortable nest allowed to fall slightly into disrepair through the neglect c: ! its owners, who are the people of the land. Fledgling manufacturers would | thrive for the benefit of all if tli * I mother bird that is the public could , always remember the duty it owes to ; itself and its offspring. Perched bt side the nest, smug, passive and ever approving, the foolish mother-bird has i allowed the interloper to scramble into the nest and oust from their I Rightful position the occupants who. I denied assistance from the source j whence they have a right to expect i it, are unable to attain that strength j which would enable them to resist ! the efforts of such unwelcome guests. ' To a greater extent than ever bcj fore, attempts are being made to I point the moral of this story to New j Zealand buyers, and to teach them J that to buy goods made in their own country is a question, not only of duty, but of personal interest also. Many New Zealanders are under the impression that it matters but little what is the country of origin of the goods they buy. The importau: aspect to them is whether they may save a penny or two, and they art not troubled by the national aspect of the consequences that may attend their thoughtlessness. To express it in figures, which :ir« more familiar to the average man than the millions quoted so glibly by politicians and economists the countryneeds the people’s shillings. A shill- . ing spent on continental goods, for . instance, is elevenpence lost. It will f probably be spent in some Mid-Euro-pean village. It is gone for ever—sent direct by those who can least afford it. With a New Zealand sale a penny goes to the retailer and the elevenpence to New Zealand manufacturers and New Zealand workmen. It is bound to be spent again, with New Zealand shopkeepers; and so a sor: of perpetual motion is established. When millions of elevcnpences go to New Zealand factories, thousand o of the Dominion’s yvorkmen are employed, and thousands of tons of New Zealand raw material, employing more workmen, are used. Nothing can stop the whole of the shilling from rolling continually round the country to the advantage of both industry anil agriculture. A shilling spent on New' Zealandmade goods is always in circulation for the country’s benefit. If it finally results in profits for the manufac 1 turer it goes in at one door of a New ! Zealand bank to come out at another | as fresh capital to stimulate further industrial activity.

M.P W