TRADE AND FINANCE

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 140, 13 June 1919, Page 5

TRADE AND FINANCE

NEW ZEALAND'S PROSPERITY. < PROBLEMS OF LABOUR. I i ACTIVE LAND POLICY j NECESSARY. BANK'S CHAIRMAN DEALS WITH j: CURRENT TOPICS. WELLINGTON, this day. The chairman of the Bank of New Zea- j land, in the course of his address at the | annual meeting of shareholders this [ morning, covered a variety of subjects of , general public interest. The following i are extracts from Mr Beauchamp's interesting and voluminous review: — The prosperity of the country is reflected in the banking returns. I. the five years covered by the war the deposits have increased by £14,818,576, or about 02 per cent. The deposits in the Post Office Savings Bank during the I same period show an increase of £17,031,508 (nearly 98 per cent), and those of the private savings banks (live in number) an increase of £1,319,423. Of the latter increase, £978,000 occurs in the j figures of the Auckland Savings Bank alone. On the other hand, banking advances have expanded by £8,530,896, equal to about 35 per cent. The increase in I the advances is due to a variety of causes. Since the signing of I the armistice there has been a falling-off in domestic trade, which has had the effect of many merchants accumulating stocks of highly-priced goods, while retailers are only buying from hand-to-mouth on the assumption that, in the near future, there will be a considerable reduction in prices. The accumulation of stocks and the falling-off in trade are causing merchants to lean somewhat heavily on the banks. PRODUCE PRICES. When the Imperial commandeer expires, as it will about the middle of next year, it is probable that the prices of wool, meat, butter and cheese will decline, partly through the stress of competition, hut mainly because our customers, being impoverished by the war, will be unable to pay high prices. A fall in prices will affect the prosperity we are now enjoying, because it will involve a reduction in our income, and this can be recovered only by increased production. We must bring more land into profitable I occupation, and farm on scientific lines.

With respect to meat, the British Government Meat Committee is considering I ways and means of increasing the imports of meat from Australasia, and good reStilts from the efforts of this committee may be expected. ! There is no doubt that New Zealand ! can make sure of a good market for all j the meat that can be shipped. The qucs- ; tion is rather one of increased production. With respect to wool, there is every I reason to believe that the market will remain favourable for many years. The population needing wool is increasing far I more rapidly than the flocks; indeed, it lis a question whether the sheep in the world have not materially decreased during the past five years. Prices may not be as high as they are to-day, but they will certainly be at a profitable level for sheepmen who know their business. The wool clip for the year, which will closo at the end of the current month, is valued at £12,000,000. POST-WAR PROBLEMS—CAPITAL AND LABOUR. A\ T ar has not only used up huge amounts of the -world's wealth; war has also stricken the world's man-power. Unfortunately, just when the country is faced with this vital need of an increase of production and a decrease of waste —waste of material and waste of power—some extremists in the rankß of labour are exerting themselves to check production. Obstructive intimidating tactics, and "go 6low-ing" will simply antagonise the community, which has to suffer as a consequence thereof, and throw into a' more remote future the rapprochement between capital and labour which is so earnestly to be desired.

Tn New Zealand the irreconcilable un reasonable element in labour—though temporariy prominent—has not imposed its .impetuous reckless will on the great body of labour. An appeal to reason can be made with workers who know that a steady maintenance and increase of production are necessary to assure labour's welfare: men who know, too. that a cast-iron restriction of their individuality cannot make for personal contentment. These man have it in their power to assure for themselves an infinitely better future than the obstructive and destructive tactics of their rash leaders could bring. A better understanding, however, cannot be reached by o persistence in the policy -of suspicion and cold, aloofness whicii has been at the root of so much misunderstanding in the past. There must be. in future, more consultation — a more extensive and intensive discussion of views. Just as all classes have worked together to save the State from a foreign aggressor, so they must now again work together harmoniously to save society from the internal wrecker. Through much strife and turmoil, the Old Country seems to he feeling its way towards a solution of the industrial problem. The latest pronosal is to establish a permanent Industrial Council, or an nssemblv of representatives of Laborvr and Canital—in other words, a Parliament of Tndustrv—bv which all questions affecting Labour and Capital shall be decided." Probably along some such lines the solution of the problem lies. Tt seems clear that the method hitherto pursued in this Dominion no longer meets the necessities of the case. Our country is *ufTcrin-* under a continued process of wa-re-raisin?. as a result of appeals to the" Industrial nnd Conciliation Courts by the various Trades Unions. Every increase awarded to worKers automnticallv increases the price of the articles produced, and. as a result, the increased cost of production is passed on to the consumer. Consequently, wages and j prices arc pursuing each other in an I unending circle; and in the final results j even the workers themselves, in whose interests the movement was primarily made, derive little or no benefit. It would be folly to think that this state of things can continue. The time is past when any one trade can be allowed to settle its working conditions, ! remuneration, etc., irrespective of the effect which the proposed modification ' will have upon the community in general. All such trade union appeals as ' T have indicated should be dealt with by an assembly in which workers and should have equal numerical representation. Such an assembly should lie presided over hymen of judicial mind and wide industrial experience, ranking in the social order on the same footing as Judges of

the Supreme Court. Men of this calibre :ould guide the deliberations of the industrial assembly, so that the decisions arrived at might not prove abortive or operate unfairly to any section of the community. I have sufficient confidence in the sound common sense of the average worker, and in the 6ense of fairness and justice possessed by the average employer, to he assured that every just and fair demand of labour would be met by such an assembly. It would fall within its province to make such recommendations to the Government of the day in regard to control of prices of essential commodities as would ensure that such prices should not be increased by dealers beyond the. point necessary to yield them a reasonable return upon their invested capital. With this position attained, strikes and lockouts would, by common consent r>i workers and employers, be absolutely tabooed and made illegal by legislation, all trade unions and associations of employers agreeing to bo bound by the decisions of the Industrial Assembly, subject, perhaps, in certain cases, to the rig'it of appeal to the Parliament of the country, with whom final decision might rest. The best preventive of the spread in New Zealand and the pernicious doctrine and principles of tiie Bolshevist and the LW.W. is the people's inherent love ol law and order. With a liberal education of the rising generation, the country has, I believe, nothing to fear from the revolutionary propagandist. Industrial freedom is the mainspring of progress—the indispensable condition of the highest degree of advancement We shall need it in the dark days that i lie ahead. With it, we may have courage |to face and confidence to overcome the j worst that can beset us, but without if I the end may be confusion and disaster I am in distinct antagonism to those who look to the nationalisation of in dustries as the remedy for tho existinf labour unrest. I am confident that il would prove no remedy. The rigln remedy must be sought for and found ii other directions. LAND SETTLEMENT AND PRICES. It is, I consider, imperative that i vigorous policy of land sclHcmen should be pursued in this Dominion. Tin State is doing excellent work in settling soldiers on the land, and some ver; satisfactory results have already beei obtained. "Some 12G9 soldiers have a lOth May (ultimo) been settled, on area aggregating 553,520 acres, and furthe settlement is in progress. Extensiv financial assistance has also bee: afforded to many soldiers who arc i need of such help. Something more, however, should be done. There is still a vast area of native land that is lying more or less idl» and unproductive. The State should deal with this land on the principle embodied in the AVest Coast Settlement Reserves Act, 1892. Under that Act native lands in Taranaki arc_ leased in suitable areas to farmers, on terms equitable to both parties. The rentals are collected by the Public Trustee and distributed to" the natives. The Act has operated satisfactorily in Taranaki, and could easily be made to apply to native lands in other districts, to the advantage of the native I owners and the benefit of the people of New Zealand. The heavy load of taxation that the country has to bear as the result of the war makes it necessary that no means of increasing the earning power of the country should be neglected. The settlement of the vacant 'lands of the Dominion is one of the principal means by which that earning power can he most readily and expeditiously increased. The country must produce more, so that its surplus for export will expand, if we are to meet our war burdens satisfactorily and maintain the country's progress and prosperity. By this land settlement and increased production will he impossible unless further facilities for transport and communication are provided. Therefore, roads, bridges, and railways become essential, and the country should endorse a comprehensive policy that will speedily secure to the pioneers in settlement these necessary conveniences. Owing to the present remunerative prices of produce, due mainly to the war and the Imperial commandeer, farmers are buying and selling improved lands at very high prices. With our main markets 12,000 miles away, with new and formidable competitors in the field, with Europe impoverished through the war, and people educated to the use of substitutes, such as margarine, it is hardly possible that our dairy produce can maintain their present values when j the Imperial commandeer ends. What | then will be the position of those who ! have paid high prices for land and buri dencd themselves with heavy mortgage I charges? | The value of any farm land must be determined by what can be got out of it by a competent farmer. At present this is largely a matter of guess-work, and a farmer, with a biased mind, may easily persuade himself that he can obtain better results than the farmer who is selling. What is primarily required las a guide to the real value of land is a ; more exact system of farm bookkeeping. No business can be successfully carried on without a proper bookkeeping system, and farming, being a business, is no exception to the rule; but it is to be feared that at present farmers' books, where kept at all, arc by no means accurate and are of little use as an index to the value of the land the farmer is working, and therefore not entirely- reliable as a guide to his true financial position. The question of proper methods of farming accountancy is engaging attention in other parts of the world, and it is to be hoped that the outcome of the consideration that it is receiving will be the evolution of a satisfactory system by which the farmer will be able to ascertain the true results of his operations and to determine the true value of the land he is working, or may be proposing to purchase.