The Department of Industries and Commerce was a government department in New Zealand that assisted with the export of goods to overseas markets, examined trade practices and administered industrial manufacturing.
The government set up an Office of Industries and Commerce in 1894 for the purpose of 'finding new markets for New Zealand produce and extend existing areas' as well as to 'give limited assistance to any branch of local commerce and industry requiring help'.
For the department's first few decades of operation its main concern was agriculture.
[1] Until 1919 it became a department and had various responsibility areas for agriculture, tourism, health resorts and publicity before its focus became more firmly in the industrial field.
After the Second World War, the government and the department set up an information service for manufacturers.