Editorial Comment

Progress, Volume XII, Issue 5, 1 January 1917, Page 837

Editorial Comment

Industry When the war is apparently approaching after the be s^ a S e °f victory for the Allies, and we War ma begin to look forward to resumption of supplies from the Mother Country, we receive a pamphlet printed on paper made in New Zealand. For over two years paper has been at famine price, and many kinds unprocurable because, in our easy English fashion, we had been leaving it to the Continental makers to provide these particular lines, Now, we repeat, with the war nearly over, New Zealand paper makes its appearance in an experimental form, used for publishing an effective address by Mr. J. A. Frostick, a well-known Christchurch business man, on the vitally important subject of post-war industrial reconstruction. Nothing could be better than the paper itself to point the moral which Mr. Frostick forces home in many strong phrases. When the famous McNab Land Bill was under consideration in the House of Representatives in 1906, a. clause was inserted permitting the setting aside for the use of paper manufacture, a large tract of poor bush in the Westland land district. With ample supplies of water power, and an almost unlimited quantity of the right timber for pulp, it seemed only a question of the time necessary to get out the machinery, and we would be able to boast another industry, depending on our bountiful natural resources. But valuable time was fooled away, a valuable concession probably hawked about for speculative profits; and New Zealand, with all its paper pulp resources, was “ caught short.” Ten. years wasted! Now the necessary capital is being raised, and doubtless, after the great opportunity has passed. New Zealand paper will come on to a market by the time other papers are coming in again. The story is quite typical of the way in which things industrial are managed in this country, marvellously prosperous, in spite of our lazy, careless methods, only one remove from those of the dusky denizen who need not work hard, because bread fruit and the cocoanut will fall into his mouth if he has enough energy to move to an easy couch beneath the self-sown tree. We could tell a similar story of the wonderful Parapara iron-ore deposit, but enough has been said to emphasise our point that industry needs more careful organising in the future.

The Board of Industries organised in Another Canterbury will keep the subject well to Opportunity the front, as it deserves, for we are approaching another opportunity. After the war, emigration will be resumed with redoubled strength. Skilled artisans will have saved enough in England, out of their ninepence an hour, to travel to this land of promise where one and threepence is the living wage minimum. They must be absorbed usefully, andthis is the chance of our secondary industries. The writer, having some knowledge of the way in which skilled men from the Old Country have been coming here without aim or organisation, and becoming lost —so far as their special skill is concernedby absorption in the ranks of the well-paid unskilled labour, once questioned a gang of co-operative labourers engaged in navvying on the Main Trunk Railway. He found that the dozen imigrants included two brass finishers, two who had been in charge of bicycle making machinery in Birmingham, and three of their friends who formerly worked in a department of the celebrated Tangye works. And, for want of opportunity here, they were navvying, and were quite satisfied, though there might have been, even at that time employers who would have been glad of their special skill and experience. Mr. Erostick urges New Zealanders to secure economic independence by developing their, own industrial resources, and the Board of Industries includes as one of its planks in a businesslike platform, “The establishment of direct relations with the Government of the day, so that proper provision may be made by legislation for the ■encouragement of every form of enterprise through which the national wealth may be created, and constant employment for the people assured.” We cannot agree with all that Mr. Erostick has to say. He is rightly insistent upon the necessity for protection, but we would urge that this can be carried too far. The hoot industry, in which he is personally interested, is not a good example of benefit to the community from extensive protection. New Zealand can produce the boots, but the price keeps just a shade under that of the heavily dutiable imported article, while the leather, by reason of defective tanning or the use of inferior materials, is not always as satisfactory as we should expect in a country where the raw material is plentiful, and of the best quality. Nor is Mr. Frostrick fair to past generations of New Zealand statesmen in declaring; “We have made no attempt to build up national reserves, from which to discharge our public debt. We are throwing away our opportunities to create national wealth, without which New Zealand can never become a successful nation. I realise that the lethargy of the people is so deeply seated that no words of mine can have any effect unless a reasonable number of business men add the weight of their words and influence.” Evidently the ■critic is not aware of the . excellent sinking fund system •established by Sir Joseph Ward, in the Public Debt Extinction Act, 1908, under which our public debt is "being wiped off in seventy-five years, while in the case of the Dreadnought loan, the present generation will pay for it. Then, against this so-called load of debt we have a State railways system worth a good deal more than the money which has been borrowed to pay for it, and "being constantly improved, partly out of revenue, yet all the time giving to industry the greatest of boons —trans-

port at bed-rock cost price. Protection, if given to industry, must not be regarded as a soft blanket in which the manufacturer can wrap himself up, and become oblivious to the progress on the other side of the tariff wall. Some of our secondary industries have been run on lines which make the general public heartily sick of protection. We must avoid prejudicing the case for development by too much talk of tariff. Our fifteen thousand miles of isolation constitutes moderate protection at any rate. Wages are high in New Zealand, but American manufacturers have shown us what highpaid and well-directed labour can do in turning out goods at low rates. Our cheap power, and a plentitude of raw material, will more than counterbalance high wages, so that the outlook for industry in this country is quite promising. Our most pressing problem in that respect is to get to work with plans, so as to be ready to welcome the worker :, When the ships come back from slaughter And the troops come back from war, When the havoc strewn behind Threatens the road that lies before ; Every hero shall be welcome, Every orphan shall be fed, By the man who sticks to business— By the man who keeps his head. To raise the Town Planning issue in New Zealand iust now, when everyone is concerned about the woolgrowers’ profit, the cost of wheat, the latest conscription ballot, and the Great Northern Derby, is like a voice crying in the wilderness. But there are a few far-seeing communities concerned about this question, which will have to be considered for the good of the community, no matter what the price of bread, or what horse wins the race. South Australia has passed a comprehensive Town Planning Act. Its preparation was entrusted to the well-known enthusiast on the question, Mr. Charles C. Reade, who wisely accompanied its first appearance with a report on the whole subject, and an explanation of the Bill. His proposals are substantially what Progress has been advocating for this country, namely, the establishment of a central Town Planning Commission, consisting of three experts appointed by the Governor, and responsible to the Ministry, and through them, to Parliament. It is not intended to be a departmental body riding roughshod over the existing municipal authorities. While exercising the necessary supervision and directing policy on broad lines, it is intended to helpfully co-operate with these authorities in the preparation of any town planning works to be submitted to the Government for approval. A local Town Planning Board may be appointed by the Governor for dealing with the problems of the area surrounding Adelaide. These bodies are not to be merely advisory. They have , active powers. They may make Town Planning by-laws, acquire property, needed in carrying out a scheme, and pay compensation, or exact betterment. The last is a vitally important provision, which ought to be incorporated in our own legislation without waiting for the longexpected Town Planning Bill. Thousands of pounds are spent in New Zealand by the Government and by local authorities which directly benefit. property owners who, at the best, take up the passive resistance attitude when improvements are suggested, but "who wake up to activity when the improvement warrants charging more rent.

A Voice in the Wilderness