Australian Cars

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXII, Issue 249, 20 August 1928, Page 6

Australian Cars

-— MANUFACTURER’S OPINION “There is no doubt in my mind that the Australian-built motor car r will come out of the continued de- : velopment of the manufactures of the various units,” said Mi’ John, Storey, chairman of the Automotive Manufacturers’ Association, at the annual conference of the Association. “Much has been done already,” he said. “New firms are cropping up every month in the automotive manufacturing trade. Everything but the engine and the chassis is already made here. Manufacturers arc steadily increasing the number of chassis parts which they can make with efficiency and sell with profit.”

“If the Government wished to see an Australian-built car,.it must give every possible encouragement to the parts, equipment, and accessory manufacturers, and the car itself must inevitably follow,” he continued. “At present, instead of hearty backing, we are subject to handicaps. Firms handling inter-State business are subject to crucifying taxation. We are compelled to employ skilled men on erection work which actually needs only semi-skilled men, and the unions object to the application of what is the first principle of incentives —a reward in the form of higher wages for efficiency, whether it be piecework or a bonus. LTntil we are in a position to reward high production with high wages, and low production with a living wage only, we shall never attain maximum efficiency.” Australian manufacturers, he explained, had demonstrated their capabilities with modern methods and the latest machinery to reduce the prices of goods to the public by their competition. With an increase of 45 per cent in the duty on gears, the Australian manufacturer, a year or two ago, literally cut prices to the public in havles. Since the increase of tariff on batteries, resulting in active Australian manufacture, the price of a well-known foreign battery had been reduced by 33 1-3 per cent. There were to-day in operation, or in preparation, no fewer than nine manufacturing firms in Sydney alone. Twelve months ago there were but four. During the year there had. been an increase of 30 per cent in the mem-

bership of the Association, he said, the annual production of whose members was about £1,000,000.