WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1930. ENCOURAGING LOCAL INDUSTRY.

Thames Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 17970, 20 August 1930, Page 4

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1930. ENCOURAGING LOCAL INDUSTRY.

The fact is becoming more and more patent every day that if the Dominion is to escape from the paralysing grip of continued heavy, taxation she must have yet more industries of her own, and the people of the Dominion must be loyal to those industries and support them to the greatest extent within their power. Briefly, New Zealand must become more or less self-contained. Thames, on a smaller scale, must pursue a precisely similar policy. Thames needs more industries, and is , peculiarly well-situated to encourage them, both geographically and industrially, but their encouragement can only be brought about by the energy and loyalty of the Thamesites themselves. We must all support local industry and must all patronise our local st9res. Thames must give tha,t support to local business which will enable that business to develop and to employ more labour. To do this it is necessary to create a definite demand for locally-manufactured products which will encourage the further investment of capital in those industries, and which, moreover, will tend to create a demand for those products outside the narrow circle of the environs of the place itself. In other words, Thames must become an exporting centre instead of an importing centre. The analogy .holds good here as it does in the Dominion at large. When exports from New Zealand are greater than * imports then times are good, but when we import more than we can export then progressively money leaves the Dominion (or town to carry the simile on) and stringent financial conditions are created, and the town or country becomes steadily poorer. Only by the policy of supporting local industry and by dealing within our own circle will the local taxation be decreased and the local employment increased, and these two are the foundations of success ,in any centre. It would be as well to bear this in mind when purchases have to be made.