Rage 12) PA. Features, February 24

Industrial Develo

OSTWAR problems are beginning to loom lar
ple. Many féel that unless a bold policy
diversified manufacturing industry

of primary products will be re-
inforced by demands from
abroad during the reconstruc-
tion period. If during this per-
iod an adequate basis for manu-
facturing and advanced proces-
sing is not established in BG,
then it might “seem” more rea-
Sonable to transfer men from
those wartime industries which
Present difficult reconvyersion
problems to primary industries
Which are assured of adequate
export outlets, and in this fash-
jon maintain high employment
levels.

Once reconversion has been
accomplished in the USA and
Hastern Canada, little incentive
will remain for manufacturers
to locate new plants in the west
unless they are assured before-
hand that their needs are receiv-
ing the utmost consideration.

In all likelihood, too, the peace
will witness a considerable re-
distribution of industry on a
world scale. Many firms with
reputations in the Orient may
well decide that new plant cap-
ital should be invested in areas
bordering the Pacific ._ . pro-
viding technical, transportation
and economic considerations as-
sure them some advantages not
now enjoyed. One lesson the
war must have taught Huropean
capitalists is that too great an
emphasis on centralization in
production carries grave risks.

The. failure to encourage
manufacturing in the west can
only result in a period of rela-
tive stagnation characterized by
slow population growth and a
meagre rise In the region’s eco-
nemic well-being.

The increasing demand of
progressive westerners that the
door be opened wide to enter-
prising manufacturers is not
Some new device dictated by ex-
pediency and having it’s origins
encrusted with envy of the east.
Rather, it springs from the full
realization of what those life-
giving principles which bind the
United Nations mean in prac-
tice, locally.

What then will British Colum-
bia gain if she succeeds in es-
tablishing a flourishing and
Varied manutacturing industry
to compensate her one-sided de-
pendence on raw-material pro-
duction? What will Canada
gain? Briefly, the region and
the nation will benefit by: a)
Lower absolute costs by reduc-
ing to a minimum the transpor-
tation charges which now enter
between the various stages of
production; b)) It will insure
a more equitable and parallel
development of the east and the
west, thus strengthening nation-
al unity; ¢) Manufacturing in
the west will speed a more uni-
form distribution of the popu-
lation throughout the nation.
d) A better balanced regional
economy will tend to reduce
the temporary havoc which
often occurs during periods
when the market for raw-ma-
terials momentarily contracts;
and, neither last nor least, it will
condemn relatively fewer of us
to life in “company” towns.

By ALBERT DETTMAN

Manufacturing processes, be-
ing more involved than primary
taw-materials production, ab-
sorb vastly greater amounts of
labor, and call forth a wider va-
riety of skills. ... The raw me-
terials for a fine watch cost but
a few cents and reflect only
momentary effort; but long and
highly skilled labor, employing
many tools, are required in
workingup these mere atoms
of metal into a watch. The
Same general relationship holds
for everything we use ... from
the oft-cited kitchen sink to fhe
radio on which you heard the
news from Yalta.

ADMITTING the vital import-
ance of manufacturing to
British Columbia, you can’t just

ge on the horizon of West Coast peo-
designed to encourage the growth of a
is pursued, the present emphasis on the production

Marketing facilities are good.
Although the regional market
is somewhat restricted due to
the presently sparse population,
export outlets are among the
best in the world; with B.C. and
the American northwest ideally
Suited as a base for trade with
the Soviet east, the Orient, Cen-
tral and South America.

The only significant and vital
exception in this otherwise
bright picture is the failure to
develop; regionally and broadly,
our hydraulic power potentiali-
ties. Modern manufacturing and
the processing of raw materials
have become so inextricably
bound to the electric current,
that failure to provide for a
prior development of hydraulic

Power resources is tantamount

to a prohibition.

pment For B.C.

eS the light of what has al-

ready been said ,the news
from Victoria indicates a very
timid policy in the field of hydro
development. While the pros-
pect of a Commission is good to
behold, the provincial govern-
ment’s committment to 4 thirty
million dollar highway program
will go a lone way towards ex
hausting the fiscal resources of
the government for several
years. Basically, the reason for
this must be sought in the Gov-
ernment’s unwillinsness to com-=
mit itself to a program of hydro
development until after it can
See what the BCE has accom-
plished with its postwar “ex-
pansion program.

Obviously Victoria does not
feel that the development of
abundant power in-excess of im-
mediate demands is of much
Significance, since it must know
that private power bodies sel-

dom develop power in @XCeSS _

of immediately marketable ca
pacity. But Victoria cannot be,
or long remain ignorant of the
tremendous attraction which

Eee aa acne ech eaay aarp omni nat nom ranean ani AGL anime

To attract people and industry . . . cheap

and abundant Power in advance of industrial

development is essential.

PEELE ES CSS STATUS SAESTUSAENTALATEVSD YTS ELETEAULEESTEEULUITELOS UESATEUEEFBANEALIEEALITALUEA DEEN THT ETAT UA SESAEAERUUUELEEEYCONEEDTULUEEICEUSAECMEATAETELLEC EAs esATsasstateEsteETiEtt

go to eastern. Canada, the USA.

or England and there Shanghai
a erew of capitalists, alone with
their capital, and sail blissfully
to the west coost. You can’t even
compel local capital to under-
write manufacturing in B.G. If
relative risks «ad costs are cun-
siderably higher on the west
coast than in eastern Canada,
then no amount of lawful per-
Suasion will entice them to lo-
cate here. They’re not as enter-
prising as all that!

But in many instances we al-“

ready have the necessary pre-
conditions to support a flourish-
ing and advanced processing in-
dustry; and those which we do
not yet possess we can create
under much more favorable con-
ditions than they were created
elsewhere.

To sustain manufacturing,
manufacturers must have con-
venient access to a wide range
of raw materials ang partly pro-
cessed products. In this re-
Spect we are particularly for-
tunate, since the province is
richly endowed with a great va-
riety of mineral resources —
many of them already developed
—such as few areas in the world
possess. Those elements which
the region does not contain, or
which present difficult develop-
mental problems at the present
time, can be obtained from
abroad under the most favorable
circumstances through a paral-
lel development of our maritime
status. .

Inland transportation facili-
ties are generally excellent,
though several areas suitable
for industry and settlement are
not uniformly well served, es-
pecially by bulk carriers.

In the words of the prelimi-
nary report of the Bonneville

Power Administration, a funda-
mental principle to be followed
everywhere in the case of power
development is that of “sound
economical construction in ad-
vance of the development of a
promising power market.”’ To
attract people and industry —
especially manufacturing —
cheap and abundant power in
advance of industrial develop-
ment is essential.

cheap power holds for the whole
gamut of industry. A few sta-
tistics will make this point
clearer.

Im Portland, Oregon area the
monthly aluminum load amounts
to a little more than 133 mil-_
lion kilowatt hours. The cheap-
est private utility rate for this
amount of power is $469,725 per
month. But the Portland alum-
inum industry uses public Bon-
neville power and pays $265,417,
thereby saving $204,308 per
month. Throughout the region
the picture is the same.

e€ area the
cheapest private power for ar
aluminum load of 156.6 millioz
kwh per month would cos:
761.6 thousand dollars, but pub.
lic power from Grand Coule:
Supplies the demand for 312.¢
thousand dollars—a Saving oi
$448,940 per month! Such con:
siderations determine whether
an industry will be “profitable®

In the Spokane

and develop their Own;
bower requirements through
Subsidiaries. They can afford
to, but not one manufacturer in
a2 thousand can do this.

When giant enterprises un_
dertake a program of power de-

_ velopment, they do so for their

Own specific purposes; not hes
tating to use it asa weapon with
Which to discourage or break
less powerful rivals through the
manipulation of rates.

The
benefit
power. In the region served by
the Bonneville administration,
municipalities including a

municipalities likewise
greatly from public |

:

large number of rural communi

ties—buy their power from BPA j
for an average cost of 3 mills
per kwh!
power in abundance for domes-
tic purposes, refrigeration and

the cold-processine of selected |

fruits and vegetables at rates |
which add little to production
costs. :

“Is it difficult now to: explain ~
the phenomenal growth of the
American Northwest? And all
these public power projects are
Paying for themselves at a rate
beyond the wildest expectations.
of their initiators.

Wherever the costs of power
are reduced the demand in-

creases — people and industry —

use more. Newly developed
sites with light loads, initially,
find themselves operating at ca-
pacity in a very short time. Nor
have Canadian or American
public power authorities found
a single exception to this rule.
Of course, B.C. urgently needs
cheap and © abundant public
power. :

.

Farmers purchase |

i