SUPPORT OF NEW ZEALAND PRODUCTION.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21190, 10 November 1938, Page 6

SUPPORT OF NEW ZEALAND PRODUCTION.

General endorsement will be given the statement by the Minister of Mines who is seeking to ensure that more New Zealand coal should be used for all purposes within the Dominion. The Minister made particular reference to the use of coal for gas-making purposes. The companies, on their part, however, have to take into account not only the quality of coal, because the stability of the important business of gas-making is dependent on adequate and regular supplies of suitable coal. The Minister very properly suggests that coal consumption in New Zealand should be met as completely as possible with supplies of coal mined in the Dominion. This principle might very well be applied in other industries. For instance, it is somewhat incongruous that the unfavourable trade balance between Australia and New Zealand should be given a trend that is more disadvantageous to this country, by the purchase iu Australia of something like three million bushels of wheat that should be grown in this country. As a matter of fact the Minister of Mines has touched on one of the fundamental weaknesses of New Zealand’s national economy—the growing tendency to rely on imported goods rather than produce or manufacture the goods in New Zealand. It is therefore pleasing to note that in spite of lost time in the mines the total output last year was greater than at any time since 1930. In that year the total output was 2,542,000 tons, and it fell to 1,821,000 tons in 1933, which was the lowest recorded since 1921. Last year it rose to 2,277,000 tons. The imports of coal diminished fairly steadily from the 674,483 tons in 1924 to 99,272 tons in 1933. Last year the total imports amounted to 116,499 tons, the import tendency since 1935 being on the upgrade. Though the import figures are not impressively large, they are not sufficient to warrant the Minister’s appeals to local consumers to as far as possible help the local industry. Last year the coal mines found employment for an additional 160 men, the total number employed in the mines being 4257. From 1926 to 1031, however, an average of over 1000 more persons found work in the mines than are employed there to-day. It is obvious, of course, that if the people of New Zealand are interested in discovering a real solution of the Dominion’s unemployment problem, not only must increased purchases of locally-manufactured goods be made, but substantial financial backing must be given to all New Zealand industries which are sufficiently sound to warrant encouragement and protection.