I—l 7

XI. SECONDARY INDUSTRIES A. GENERAL SURVEY The term " secondary industries " is an unsatisfactory one in dealing with industrial development, as it is sometimes impossible to draw the line between primary and secondary industries. For the purpose of this discussion it is proposed to adopt the census definition of industry, which reads that industry includes all manufacturing industries, including the treatment of raw materials, building and construction, and gas. water, and electricity production and supply." From some points of view the production of such services as electricity may* be considered to be a tertiary industry, but since by far the greatest amount of the electricity production is consumed in manufacturing industries it"is convenient in this discussion to consider it in the secondary group. As pointed out earlier, until practically the end of last century New Zealand was concerned almost wholly with agricultural production, and the servicing of such agricultural production. Only to a very minor extent was New Zealand engaged industrially. Such industries as were in existence were primarily of the locality and service type, always with the exception of food processing industries such as freezing-works and, to a limited extent, dairy factories. Although there was some expansion in the size of industry, there was practically no real industrial development until after the 1914-18 way. Even then, during the third decade, which is marked predominantly by the expansion of the dairying industry, the emphasis was rather on the servicing type of industry, with the introduction at this stage of the servicing of motor transport and other machinery using internal-combustion engines, and the development of electricity. By 1921 the industrial population was little greater than it was in 1911. The efficiency of that population, however, had considerably increased, consequent on the growing efficiency of the industries of the country. However, there has been a steady growth in the industrial population, a growth which was affected very much less than other economic activity by the depression of the early thirties. The following table, extracted from the censuses, shows the number of persons engaged in secondary industry at various Censuses from 1901 to 1945

Table No. 93.—Table showing the Number of Persons occupied in Secondary Industry at the various Censuses from 1901 to 1936 and an Estimate for 1945

Generally, the development of industrial population in both males and females has kept steady pace with the growth of the population as a whole. If anything, the number of females engaged in manufacturing has, until 1945, tended to lag behind the growth of population. This is a particularly interesting phenomenon, as the general impression is that the industrial growth has been very rapid. The definition of industry adopted for this purpose, however, must be kept in mind, for at a later stage it will be shown that in the tertiary group, comprising principally servicing industries, the growth has

3*

67

Year. Males. Females. Total. 1 | Index No. Number. Index No. Number. Index No. j 1901 70,800 1000 16,561 1000 87,361 1000 1906 84,751 1197 18,749 1132 103,500 1185 . 1911 .. -93,640 1322 20,157 1217 113,797 1302 1916 .. 83,831 1184 20,170 1218 104,001 1191 1921 98,613 1393 20,319 1227 118,932 1361 1926 .. 113,372 1601 20,616 1245 133,988 1534 1936 129,146 1824 27,712 1673 156,858 1796 1945 134,000 1892 37,000 2235 171,000 1957