The New Zealand Manufacturers' Federation, founded in 1897, acts as the “mouthpiece” and the advocate of most New Zealand manufacturing industries, and is concerned with aiding, fostering and encouraging their establishment and development. It deals with the New Zealand Customs Tariff as it affects rates of duty and classification of goods, and also with import licensing, both of raw materials and of plant for industry, as well as with imports of manufactured goods. All legislation which affects manufacturers is studied and, where necessary, representations are made to protect or further the interests of manufacturers. The federation watches, among other things, labour and factory legislation, price control, and the Trade Practices Act, health regulations, and shipping and transport problems.
The headquarters of the federation, with a permanent secretariat of eight, are in Wellington. The secretariat includes a public relations department of two, which distributes manufacturing information; it also helps to organise industrial fairs, exhibitions, and special promotion weeks for retail groups, for school teachers, and for the general public.
More than 2,600 manufacturing firms are members of the federation through four provincial manufacturers' associations – Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, and Otago-Southland. (Manufacturers are the largest single employing group in New Zealand and, at present, employ about 232,400 people out of the total work force of 901,900.) There are 49 trade groups working within the federation and association framework. These groups relate, for example, to textiles and garments, footwear, plastics, furniture manufacturing, frozen foods, biscuit, chocolate, engineering, and radio and television manufacturers. Each of these organisations is entirely autonomous, but the executive work is carried out by the federation, which is recognised by the Government and other organisations as the official voice of industry. The federation is also widely represented on a number of outside bodies and committees such as the Standards Council, Immigration Advisory Council, Industrial Advisory Council, Council for Technical Education, and the National Safety Association.
by Arthur Oman Heany, General Secretary, Associated Chambers of Commerce of New Zealand, Wellington.