H—44

8

INDUSTRIAL REVIEW Although the statistics covering the year under review are not yet available t6 show either the aggregate totals of employees engaged in industry and the value and volume of production or the changes which have taken place in these respects in particular industries during the year, the facts which deserve mention concerning the recent past are : (1) With the cessation of hostilities, demands for goods for military use greatly contracted and manufacturers in consequence required to transfer the use of resources to peacetime needs. (2) Demands for civilian goods have been extremely heavy and the gap between demand and supply has been widened both by the inability of overseas suppliers to fulfil orders and by the delay in having orders shipped to this country. (3) Relaxation of man-power controls, with consequent changes in staffs and adjustments due to the reabsorption of ex-service personnel into peacetime employment, has combined with the heavy demand for goods to result in shortages in available man-power in many industries. Industries which have shown very great expansion in the value of their output and the capacity to provide employment since the economic recovery following the slump of the nineteen-thirties include important sections of the textile and leather group, electrical, radio, and general engineering ; .furnishing and building materials ; and fruit and vegetable packing. Tobacco-processing, paint-manufacture, as well as confectionery, biscuit, and soap making and rubber-goods manufacture, are industries in which there has also been considerable growth. War demands stimulated developments, too. New Zealand engineering works, foundries, and motor-assembly plants were engaged in the manufacture of munitions and articles for war to such an extent that cessation of war production without plans for alternative work would have caused substantial disruption in employment both of workers and plants. That this disruption did not occur can be largely attributed both to the early preparations made under the guidance of the Industrial Development Committee for the change, and to the resourcefulness shown by manufacturers and workers in substituting peacetime products in place of wartime requirements. In the case of other industries their plants could more easily be converted to work on peacetime products, for which in nearly all instances there is extremely heavy demand. The striving of manufacturers to secure their share of the heavy volume of business available has led to intense demand on a great variety of raw materials both locally produced and imported. Increased output in local manufactures has been achieved in many products, particularly in the building-materials group, embracing wallboards, plywoods, and veneers. In other types of building requirements, however, materials shortages are causing inconvenience. Cement, and timber for building, for joinery, and for furniture, are in short supply in relation to the heavy demands. Special factors prevented production of pulp and paper products from reaching its otherwise attainable level during the year, in that major mechanical attention had to be given to the plants of two companies. In general, however, when proper weight is ascribed to the many disruptive factors which are inevitable in the aftermath of war, it can be said that our industrial output is satisfactory.