SECONDARY INDUSTRY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 108, 8 May 1936, Page 8

SECONDARY INDUSTRY

GOVERNMENT’S ATTITUDE ■ REPLIES TO DEPUTATION ALL NECESSARY PROTECTION ! t .'BRITISH MARKET IMPORTANT s n t

; a I WELLINGTON, May 7. * An assurance that, whatever re- ... medies were necessary to protect the a interests of secondary industries of New Zealand would be applied was given to a deputation representing the a New Zealand Alanufacturers’ Federation by the Prime Alinister, the R.t. Hon. AL J. Savage, this afternoon. The deputation, which numbered •, about seventy, cousisted of manufac- c turers from all parts of the Dominion. n “Customs may have to be revised j. and agreements arranged, or a definite t licensing of imports adopted," said ]. ' Air. Ravage, “but whatever steps are t necessary to be taken are going io be p taken to protect you, those in your em- v ploy and the interests of the people c generally. 1 ask you to have a little s patience and accept my word for it that we are never going to let you f down.” f The Minister of Finance, the Hon. a W. Nash, and the Minister of Indus- q tries and Commerce, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, were also present. Mr. Nash reminded the deputation of New Zea- a land’s obligation to the United King- i dom and Air. Sullivan said he had j. given attention to the reaction the £ Government’s industrial legislation might have on secondary industries. a The deputation was headed by Air. t ! D. Henry, president of the federation, v ' who pointed out that manufacturers ' were faced with the possibility of a c 1 shorter working week and higher a wages, and they had tn compete with v ’ companies that operated in New Zea- fc ’ land from overseas and were not faced s with those costs. They were wonder- s • ing how they were going to get busi- c { ness if their prices were too high to e prevent, traders from placing orders c ' with them and placed them overseas v instead. Orders were going overseas t at present and, also, many manufacturers were being pressed to take for- I ward orders. Traders said that if • i prices were going up let them protect f the future as much as possible. Manu- J! i facturers realised their responsibili- c t ties to staffs and were loath 1o lose g , orders. They were being faced with v ' the difficulty of being unable to quote v , firm prices and they did not know c [ what steps were being taken by the f . Government, to protect them with re- t t gard to higher wages and shorter L L hours. k “We do not find fault with those, - ; he said, “but we want, some means of < - knowing how to conduct our businesses 1 > with the handicap of competing with ' 1 overseas costs. We are genuinely con- t eerneil about lira future and our in- } sponsibilities, which we have carried < on without question for years past, I and we want some reassurance from f

Mr. Nash warned them of the I danger of jeopardising the Dornin- [ ion's £40,000,000 market in Bri- ' tain. The Government would not ’ allow into the country goods that could be manufactured here, but the country still must take goods ’ from Britain ■in exchange for credits there. They had to deter- ( mine what goods those were to be ' and they would be goods that ' could be least harmful to manufac- 1 turing industries of New Zealand. "We are not going to see our iudus- ' tries smashed, ’ added Mr. Mash. Mr. Savage, after expressing con“d- ( ence in the future of the conntiv s'ud. “You can take my word for it that new Zealand industries are go- ' ing to live. We should do a fair thing by our kinsmen overseas, but j we are going to protect you j against the sweater in your own household and we will do whatever is necessary to protect you from the lower standards of other lands. We have to decide what methods we shall adopt to protect you and we are going to see that you are not exploited by the men who find the money. We have to decide quickly whether we are to increase our tariffs, what trade agreements are to be made and how much we can control the exchanges. We are not going to allow anyone to dictate our standard of living. That is the philosophy that any nation can accept. Whatever remedies may be necessary for protection will be applied. We can only build New Zealand when we lay the foundation correctly. We have done things other Governments have not cared to face, and we are going to do still bigger things, bearing in mind the rocks ahead.”