FALSE ECONOMY.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18819, 6 March 1931, Page 12

FALSE ECONOMY.

IMPORTING OUR REQUIREMENTS. The loss to manufacturers involved by the importation of large quantities of boots and clothing into the country was a subject of discussion among certain business men in Timaru yesterday. It was readily admitted that it was false economy to carry on in this way and at the same time have a large army of people for whom employment could not be found. It was claimed that it was bad business to export large quantities of hides, skins and wool to the other side of the world, and to have these made up into finished articles of apparel and then re-exported into New Zealand. The money involved m freights, insurance and commissions alone, would go a long way in the direction of keeping surplus man-power in permanent employment, and the money sent out of the country in payment for footwear, totalling in the vicinity of £1,000,000, would help materially to keep people now idle, profitably employed. One business man expressed me opinion that “patriotism begins at home,” and our first consideration should be for our own people, who are seeking work and cannot secure it. The most prosperous country, he said, was that which could keep its man power fully engaged in useful and profitable occupations. New Zealand could and should develop a policy in the direction of being more self-contained. We produce wool, coal and timber, and these could be utilised in the manufacture of many things which to-day are imported. It was true that material for suitings and costumes could not be manufactured without having our wool blended with some of the varieties produced in Australia, and so much sought after by buyers from abroad. This blending, however, could be done here, and the cost of importing this wool would not be anything like as great as it was to manufacturers at Home, chiefly on account of the short distance New Zealand is separated from Australia. The Dominion produced some of the finest blankets and rugs in the world, and it could manufacture cloth as good as any produced elsewhere by bringing a greater measure of scientific skill to bear upon its manufacturing operations.

Other people with whom this question was discussed, were emphatic on the subject of producing more in this country, and of importing less. It was pointed out that New Zealand is at present in the absurd position of importing large quantities of timber, while at the same time her mills are idle. All this money was going out of the country, and the effect upon trade and industry was most marked. A significant note struck by one business man was that it was considered only right to buy goods from the people who bought our exportable produce. He said this was quite sound, but he pointed out that if New Zealand manufactured such things as boots, blankets and materials for clothing, this would not prevent us from importing many other lines of goods such as silks, machinery, tea, coffee and other things not produced here. It would be found that our bill for imported goods would balance our cheque for our exports even in the face of a more intensive manufacturing policy here, and at the same time we would be able to keep our people regularly employed, prosperous, and contented. Our industrial wheels would be kept humming; the wealth, produced per head of the population, would be greater than ever before; and the burden of Winning the country would be more equitably distributed.