DANGER OF SHARE SELLING

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIII, Issue 22486, 22 January 1943, Page 4

DANGER OF SHARE SELLING

Effect On Industry

Transfers From Britain Advocated (Written For “The Timaru Herald”) [By W. H. Hall] Mr Fred M. Ward’s opinion on what is necessary for Timaru’s success as an industrial centre is interesting, but high pressure share selling for new ventures, with consequent heavy expense, has often been the cause of the failure of many new enterprises, too much of the original capital being wasted on share selling, leaving insufficient for the costly early beginnings of a new company. Before the war Mr Ward's was the usual method followed, but to-day industry is completely controlled, and though one may regret some of this interference in Industry, the war has definitely shown the necessity for some control, and certainly it has brought home to many the utter folly of allowing our industries, the very life blood of the nation, to be concentrated in one.or two centres.

Your valuable leading article on postwar problems in the Pacific draws attention to the urgent necessity of a larger population, and surely many millions will want to get away from bombed and war-tom Europe, and New Zealand should welcome them with open arms.

If Great Britain should send us large numbers, then it Is fair to ask her, if she transfers her people, also to transfer equivalent capital. However, the greatest good would come from established industries with their accumulated knowledge starting branches in New Zealand, and giving the opportunity to invest in a business that would be sure to succeed, instead of small local companies that would have, by trial and error, very expensively acquired the wisdom the established British companies already possess. The Government has taken control of Industry. It is not too much that it should be pressed to see that a proper job is done and insist on industrial dispersal, not concentration mostly in Auckland and Wellington. The health, housing and comfort of the workers would be better away from these cities, but even more important still, a more efficient defence of New Zealand would be possible if our eggs were not all in one basket. Under Mr Ward’s system, if a district did not have the available investment capital, then it could not expect to get industries no matter how suitable It was, and as the large cities control the biggest share of New Zealand’s finance then very definitely they win once more. Mine is not just a selfish demand for Timaru: I take the larger view of New Zealand’s benefit, and that will be greatly helped if the Government adopts an ideal of many small cities of 30,000 to 50,000 population, where workers and their children can live in comfort and happiness rather than one or two bloated cities where transport is an expensive and wearing trial, and housing even worse.

Of course, if public opinion can be sufficiently roused, and I hope it can, to force this ideal through, then I expect that Timaru’s many advantages will ensure it getting more than Its share. Rehabilitation must be L ’.ilt on a secure foundation and centralised industry is a rotten foundation on which to build New Zealand's prosperity and happiness.