|
Growth
of Country Industries 16
May 1950 The Tumut and Adelong Times |
|
Minister's statement during
visit to Tumut. Bright future for Tumut and Batlow predicted "The State Secondary Industries Division
which is part of my ministerial responsibility, has been a source
of inspiration and encouragement to more than 300 new manufacturing
concerns, both local and overseas, during the difficult post-war years.' Mr. W. E. Dickson, M.L.C., Minister
for Building Materials, said this during his visit to Tumut and Batlow
at the week-end. "These concerns," he said,
"agreed to establish their manufacturing units in country towns.
They had been placed, to their entire satisfaction, in 100 different
centres scattered over the State. The Division has been their guiding
light. It has been my privilege to visit a number of these
factories in country areas and in every case the principals have been
glad they accepted the Division's advice. Employers and employees
alike are enthusiastic about the prospects of further developments in
country areas. "Altogether 1,485 factories have been
established in country centres in the four post-war years. This is proof
indeed, that the State Labour Government's decentralisation policy has
caught the imagination of many manufacturers. "It has been found that country labour
is available in many places and firms which have made the decision to
establish units in the country have been well repaid. They have happy,
healthy employees who can still live at home instead of drifting to
the cities. "Only uninformed critics still
harp on the drift to the cities. This drift has not been finally
arrested but it has been most definitely checked.” Mr. Dickson said that in the initial stages
of its decentralisation proposals the Government, which was the only
Government in the State's history to tackle this urgent problem, decided
that planning must, of necessity, be on a long-range basis, and
co-ordinated effectively with all works and developmental programmes. No scheme to place factories with
workers and their families in country towns could succeed unless the
normal amenities of city life were made available. The Government, therefore, included in
its works programmes improved water conservation schemes, rural
electricity, sewerage, better country schools and hospitals, improved
road and rail services, country killing centres, farm mechanisation and
housing. "These services are being developed
in rural centres with all possible speed," said the Minister "Only shortages
of labour and building materials is preventing colossal progress. "However, the shortages are being overcome
at a very creditable rate. "Production of hardwood timbers, bricks,
roofing tiles, fibrous plaster, portland cement, glass and wall boards had all shown
encouraging increases. The Government was also encouraging
the importation of terracotta tiles, galvanised iron, asbestos sheeting and
timber to help meet the increasing demands of new industries and
home-builders. Negotiations were now being conducted,
the Minister said, for the importation of pre-fabricated homes and
school and hospital buildings. Tile
Imports Discussing supply of building materials,
Mr. Dickson said that, approximately 1,610,000 imported terracotta roofing
tiles would reach Sydney this month from India and Italy. These shipments, he said, had been sponsored
and encouraged by the Building Materials Department. Mr. Dickson said his Department had
also encouraged local production of cement tiles, in order to solve the
roofing problem, and production of cement tiles was expected to increase
by a rate of 5,000,000 this year - 12,000,000 compared with 7,000,000 in
1949. Tumut
And Batlow Mr. Dickson predicted bright futures
for Tumut and Batlow. He said their amazing progress of
recent years would continue as the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric
Scheme would be of special benefit to the whole area. The food canning and processing industries,
and also the quick freeze food products had made splendid progress
in the district. He was interested to learn that 1,000
acres of peas were grown for the canning industry. This was typical
of manufacturing industries the Government wished to see extended in the
country districts. The Government considered it was
desirable to process and manufacture as many products as possible
where the raw materials were grown. At Tumut the Minister was interested
in the millet-broom factory, which was another typical example of
manufacture at the point of primary production, the clothing manufacturing
unit and other local industries. |