INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT – MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES
Transport Equipment and Repair
Ninety per cent of the plants in this group are engaged in repairing motor vehicles. These plants are evenly spread throughout the country. Value added in manufacture accounts for 51 per cent of the £42.2 million value of output, compared with 24 per cent of the £32.2 million output of the 17 motor-vehicle assembly plants. These highly mechanised assembly plants employ 3,220 people, 2,160 of whom are in the seven firms in Wellington. Five units in Auckland employ 740, and five in Christ-church, 317; 36,000 cars and 8,600 trucks, vans, and buses were assembled from imported “completely knocked down” units. The balance of this industry group consists of motor-body building (£3.6 million), aircraft maintenance and repairs (£4.2 million), ship repairs and boatbuilding (£2.5 million), and the manufacture of such goods as piston rings, mufflers, and perambulators.
