The south isn’t already littered with commercial corpses to anything like the extent envisaged in the more dismal scenarios once businesses resumed operations in mid-May. The prospect of the Tiwai smelter closing next year looms oppressively as a source of provincial distress. But it’s no small thing, it really isn’t, that intimations of resilience can be found in the feedback coming in to the Southland Chamber of Commerce. Consumers haven’t gone into the sort of hibernation from which so many of our businesses would be unlikely to recover. But during such testing times it’s crucial we recognise, and react to, signs of economic and social survival instinct kicking in.
Source: Stuff July 28, 2020 17:02 UTC