Western Star WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1933. INDUSTRIES AND AGRICULTURE.

Western Star, 5 December 1933, Page 2

Western Star WALLACE COUNTY GAZETTE. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 1933. INDUSTRIES AND AGRICULTURE.

During the course, of a visit , to Dunedin, the Hon Robert Masters, Minister of Industries and Commerce, said it was a matter for regret that the numbers employed in the secondary industries was not as great as a few years ago, but the drop had come about natur*ally. : There were foup businesses that had not shown a drop ocf at least 25 per cent, in their turnover. There were 52,904 employees in the manufacturing 'industries'of the Domioion.. In.' this lie did not include such units as meat works, butter factories, or gas and electric power plants. Tho wages paid to these employees were £8,942,765, and the cost of the raw. materials used jwas £13,817,000. This, witli an addacl vrtlue of £17,129,011, made! the total value .of the products £30,946,086. Therefore tin? goods made a sales value almost equal to the valuo of thq primary products. The value of land, ■‘buildings, plant, and machinery was £24,.644,698. Tho Government understood tho difficulties which the manufacturers had experienced during recent years and he could give an assurance that it had no desire to make their position any harder. It had had duties which might have to a certain extent hampered the progress of .business. Vexatious taxes such as the sales tax had been the result of action to which the Government had been driven by necessity. In regard to primary and secondary industries, it was a matter of sincere regret to him to find there were certain individuals who were trying-to pit one .industry against another. In this country there was. room to develop tho primary and the secondary industries, with a view to helping each other as much as poa-

sible, because after all they were interdependent on each other. During his recent visit to London one thing that impressed itself on him was this : In the first weeks of thte conference one noticed the international spirit which existed and the desire to bring , about international goodwill, but as the conference progressed and dealt with matters of detail one was struck with the chango that came over the gathering. As soon as the industries of one country were affected the international spirit gradually dropped out, and one realised there was'a feeling of nationalism rather th;m internationalism in the conference. Jt became evident, there was a policy in 'different countries in the direction of developing on the lines almost of extreme nationalism, certainly of selfsufficiency and trying _to make themselves self-supporting in all industries, secondary and primary. • In other words, they were developing a policy of living within, themselves—a policy of- frozen isolation. New Zealand was mainly a primary producing country, dependent on the world’s parity, for a return * O3 L KS products. What would become of Now Zealand if all countries becamo selfsufficient and , self-contained as - far as primary products were concerned. I* seemed to him the time had come when they must give attention to the development of the secondary industries with a view to increasing them and to the utilisation of those primary products. How far to go in that direction depended largely on the policy of other countries. No one disagrees with this view ,but it must be done without a high protective tariff if it is to suit , the rural interests. - ' '••. J , From every source they had explored for information they : had discovered that there was nothing in the direqtion of asking New Zealand to do anything more in the matter of-tariff for’ any return Britain might get in the matter of goods coming from New Zealand. 1 He had asked Mr Elliot definitely v.l.at was the policy of the Government m regard to the matter, and he .had said, “It was economically unsound for one country to be a huge farm and another a huge. manufacturing country. should develop the • industries it could economically operate,”. Th've was general satisfaction throughout Great Britain with New Zealand for the manner iii which she treated Britain with rega i d to goods coming to this country, /they had' found no objection whatever to the pertinent received. He had a record of what Sir Horace Wilson> head of the Board of Trade had said at Ottawa. Sir Horace 'had said: “Britain was satisfied- generally .- with the New Zealand tariff, and did not desire it being lowered. They realised that the New Zealand tariff was largely a revenue tariff, and reductions might cause financial embarrassment, which would prejudically reflect itself in United Kingdom finance and United Kingdom trade with the Dominion.” New Zealand, with tits mere handful of people, was purchasing more in the aggregate from Great -Britain than any country in the world, with the exception of Germany with 60,000,000 people, France with 40,000,000 and Holland and Belgium, with 8,000,000 each. New Zealand purchased more per capita from Great Britain than any other country in the world. - It had been said by ipropagandists in .this country that it would pay New Zealand better to pension all employees in inefficient secondary ■' industries rather than lose the British market for her primary products, and he quite agreed. , He had been asked when he. had. decided to come to Dunedin if lie would' give liis views in regard;to the attitujele of the British Government, so far jas the agitation which was taking' place ''iff New Zealand in connection with thb abolition of all duties coming in from* the United Kingdom was concerned—this with the Object of securing further access to the Home Country for their butter and cheese and other products. He was not going to treat the subject from the view of the efficiency of their industries or in regard to the protection they received, or did not reccivo, .Tut merely from the point of view whether they would be justified in accepting, or whether England would be justified in imposing, conditions of duty on goods coining to New Zealand in return for free access of .thpir products. In view, of tlie campaign going on in England ai d knowing everything that was going on in New Zealand, they had, while in London, made every inquiry, both from the British farmers and the British Cabinet, as regarded 'their attitude, and ho could say without hesitation that the only concern in Great Britain, so far .as Now Zealand would refuse to enter into negotiations to see that the British farmer had a right to his own market. So far as the abolition of duties on goods from Great Britain was concerned it would not make any difference to the question of. restrictions on primary products going, into Great Britain. Almost every country had some form of protection—quotas, quantitive restrictions, or even prohibition of certain goods. This policy, carried to a successful conclusion, as he would put it, would not be to the advantage of this Dominion. There was not 'a country in Europe today that had not some form or quota or restrictive tariff; which would make things more difficult in the future. Recently there was trouble at the world’s conference in regard to negotiations with Great Britain on the matter of quotas. He assured his- audience that if a quota was imposed on this young country it would be a very serious, thing. We had certain financial "obligations to . Great Britain, and he had said this to ,Mr • Elliot, British Minister .of Agriculture :. “We owe you a certain amount of money; we have our obligations tOi and we desire to meet them, but if you impose a. quota on' us, stop our production, and restrict our produce, and as a result we cannot meet our obligations, the responsibility is on you, and not on us.” If we could not meet our obligations the position of the country would be very serious, but he had no fear in that direction. At any rate, tho position, as it appeared to him, had led him to think we ought to go further in .the way of opening up other markets.- In Great Britain every form of industry at the present moment seemed to be developing in Great • Britain, and lie could assure them that they could have nothing but admiration for her in view of all- her circumstances. It was very pleasing to see Britain going along on orthodox lines. The unemployed figures in Britain ; showed, 1 a reduction, and there was no better illustration of : the progress being made than tho . eduction of the number of unemployed. The position was not being brought about at the expense of the Government, and in so far as building particularly was concerned it was being brought about by privato enterprise. The mills of Bradford were working 24 hours a day, and tho beauty of it was that they had no surplus stocks. He was confident, taking all things into consideration, that there was a good time before New Zealand. “After all,” he added, “that is what is lacking, We have any amount of money in the eountry, and what is lacking is confidence, particularly ini industry. Money must be made to flow.