SUMMARY.

Colonist, Volume LXI, Issue 15024, 19 March 1919, Page 1 (Supplement)

SUMMARY.

THE INDUSTRIES COMMITTEE.

(From "The Colonist/ 1 March 11th.) We are glad to have an opportunity of welcoming to Nelson the Industries Committee .of the House of Representatives, which is undertaking, a pilgrimage through the Dominion that as far as New Zealand is concerned is, unfortunately, unique. The Committee is tho result of Parliament's realisation that more must be done in the immediate future than the State has ever had sufficient courage or foresight to attempt hitherto, to develop the industries of the country, established, nascent and latent. The Committee is charged with the duty of collecting data bearing upon the present «onditions, and especially the remediable disabilities of established industries and the possibilities of bringmg »ew *once into existence, the respective parts w-hicb should be played by State and private enterprise in these beneficial purposes, and, we presume, to suggest methods of co-ordination of private and public 'enterprise where both forms .are or may be involved. The task is a tremendous ■one; far too large, of course, for any Parliamentary committee to discharge with thoroughness in 'tlie time -wiiihnr which the present committee is required to complete its labours, g-uch a work would more fittingly form the sole pre* occupation of a perananent commission with ample expert assistance at -call. That, we hope, will prove a not distant development, for it appears to be inseparable from ;any (effort to hasten and systematise our industrial development. There must always be a "beginning, however, and for that reason the setting up of the Industries Committee is to be welcomed both as an earnest of a- more adequate organisation to come, and because its work, hurried and in many respects incomplete as it must be, will result in the most comprehensive review yet compiled of the industrial possibilities of the Dominian, and lay a foundation upon which Parliament, if it does its duty, can begin a work of the greatest national importance. The outstanding feature of the Committee's proceedings up to the present has boon the revelation of the immensity of the Dominion's natural resources which little or nothing has been done to develop, and the estrangement between the State and industry where there should be close co-operation. In both respects we venture to say, that the Committee will encounter no more striking examples in the course of its labours than have been brought to its notice in this province. The evidence, adduced at yesterday's sitting -must have opened the feyes. of even! some of those who 'fancied themselves j more or less conversant with the subjects under discussion. In no part of New Zealand has official neglect and indifference done more to thwart enter- j prise and perpetuate industrial stagnation than it has succeeded in cloing in. Nelson. The members of the Committee were obviously impressed by the evidence submitted to them of the district's possibilities, tind we" have no doubt that they will be able to frame a .number of recommendations which, :if acted upon by the authorities, will 'give a promise of better things in future. The war has caused a badly needed awakening in New Zealand as it has done in almost every country of the world, and has pointed to the wisdom of making the most, of our own resources. . If the related problems are handled intelligently the way will "be opened to measures of .industrial >ex- ' pansion which in many directions are long overdue.