H.—35

The products included in Group I have to be sold, as a rule, in competitive overseas markets, after meeting transport costs to those markets. They are entirely unsheltered against the competition of rival producing countries. The products of Group II enjoy an almost completely sheltered local market, for, though a fraction of the products classed as glass, publications, vehicles, &c., may meet some competition from imports, the bulk of the products included in this group has the local market to itself, either because the product must be locally produced to meet particular local needs, as in the case of repair industries, newspaper publications, and heat, light, and power, or because, as in the case of bulky goods such as stone and clay goods or furniture, transport costs from overseas are prohibitive. Group 111 contains almost all the products which are subject in appreciable degree to the competition of imports. But some part of each class in the group is not subject to such competition. Vegetable food is mainly flour ; wood products include the output of sawmills and sash and door factories ; non-precious metals include all the engineering repair industries ; and a considerable part of saddlery, apparel, and the other classes is either repair work or has for other reasons a secure and sheltered local market. The net output of this group is valued at £12*9 millions. If allowance be made for repair work and the proportion of new output in each class which enjoys a secure local market, then the remainder of the output of this group is perhaps worth, at a generous estimate, about £8 millions. This residue is sheltered, in that competing imports have to pay transport costs to the local market, and in most cases pass a Customs barrier as well, but it does not enjoy a secure local market as do most of the products of Group 11. Analysis of secondary industries grouped along these lines is essential to any effective consideration of the relations and relative importance of our various industrial interests. The net total product of New Zealand is valued at £106 millions ; that of the industries which really have to meet foreign competition in the local market is in the neighbourhood of £8 millions, or less than 8 per cent, of the whole. The product of the big export industries (pastoral and dairying), which meet world competition in our export markets, is £58 millions, or about 55 per cent, of the total. The remaining 37 per cent, of our production, both primary and secondary, is sold in a naturally sheltered local market. The chief economic difficulties of the Dominion in the post-war period are traceable to the disparity between prices and costs throughout these groups of industries. The sheltered industries still receive high prices for their output, many of these prices being in the neighbourhood of double the pre-war level. The unsheltered industries have the prices for their produce determined by overseas competition, and these competitive prices cluster round about 50 per cent, above the pre-war level. The prices received by the sheltered industries, as well as those of the various commercial and transport industries, determine costs in the unsheltered industries, and in many cases these basic industries cannot make costs and prices meet. Position of the Wage-earner. (Canterbury Chamber of Commerce Bulletin No. 27.) 1. The Wage-earners. Some estimate of the relative numerical importance of wage-earners, and of particular groups of wage-earners, is essential as a basis for investigation of their position in the economic organization of the Dominion. The figures given below are all from official sources—from the occupational statistics of the latest available census report, that of 1921, and the statistics of the Abstracts and the Year-book, which are more up to date. These statistics show that the relationships of the broader groups within our population change but little, and over many years about 44 per cent, have been classed as breadwinners, about 56 per cent, as dependants, while about 30 per cent, are classed as wage-earners and included among the breadwinners. Changes in the distribution of population between the chief occupational groups are greater in extent, but slower in development, and are therefore small over short periods. The following table shows the details of occupational distribution in 1921 :—

Occupational Distribution of Population, 1921.

The " not applicable " group of 712,000 includes, besides dependants, who number 688,000, a small number of breadwinners (24,000), whose occupations are undefined. But in order to bring out the relative proportions of proprietors (employers and one-man-business workers) and wage-earners, the whole " not applicable " group and the " relatives assisting " may be omitted, and the remainder of the table summarized as follows : —

Proprietors and Wage-earners.

This table shows that over that part of our population actively engaged in industry there are, on the average, almost exactly three wage-earners to each proprietor. The proportion of male wage-earners is a little less than this ; that of female wage-earners considerably greater.

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I Percentages of Total. Numbers 1 ! (Thousands). Males. Females. Both Sexes. Employers .. .. •. . • 50*5 7*6 0 5 j 4-2 Own account.. .. .. .. 72-9 10-3 1-5 6-0 Relatives assisting .. . . .. 12-1 1-1 0-9 j 1-0 Wage-earners .. .. •. 370-6 45-0 15-2 30-4 Not applicable .. •. .. 711-9 36-0 81-9 j 58-4 Totals .. .. .. 1,218-0 100-0 100-0 100 0

Percentage. Numbers (Thousands). Males. Females. Both Sexes. Proprietors .. .. .. .. I 123-4 28-5 j 11-6 ! 25-0 Wage-earners .. .. .. .. | 370-6 | 71-5 | 88-4 . 75-0 Totals .. .. .. 494-0 100-0 100-0 100-0