"REDUCE COSTS."

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 172, 23 July 1929, Page 7

"REDUCE COSTS."

VITAL TO NEW ZEALAND.

FARMING LEADER CONVINCED,

WAGE "CUT" NOT DESIRABLE

NATIONAL STOCKTAKING URGED

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.),

WELLINGTON, {his day

A "national stocktaking," with the object of reducing costs—labour costs, fiscal costs and excess profit cost? —was advocated to-day by Mr. \V. J. I'olson, M.P., ill his presidential address to the New Zealand Farmers' Union conference. air. Poison said the problem of costs was the vital one. "Unless we can get costs down wo 'cannot get ahead with primary production. We have great areas of land in New Zealand which are only capable of being successfully farmed when costs are kept down. We arc busy with fertilisers and careful breeding, increasing the yield upon our good country, but the first setback in prices will see a greater' reduction in the output of our deteriorating lands than can be overtaken in the increased output of our high-class areas." The, average far-

mer's belief, said Mr. Poison, was that the chief cause of his troubles was the high cost of labour, for which the Arbitration Court was argely, if not entirely, responsible. The fact was that labour, in the aggregate, represented a much smaller proportion of the total costs of farming than most people imagined.

Wage "Cut" Disastrous. "A 10 per cent fall in farm wages would not mean anything like a 5 per cent fall in farm costs. A 10 per cent fall in wages would have a tragic effect upon the standard of living which, as the result of a, century of struggle, the workers have built up for themselves— a standard which, in an age of progress, no man wants to see cut down. A fall of 10 per cent in the purchasing power of the workers would immediately react upon the rest of the community. Trade would fall off, imports would be affected, taxation would be affected, and there would be a general dislocation far greater than the amount of relief the fanners would obtain." Furthermore, Mr. Poison said, the Arbitration Court could not be held responsible for high wages. The responsibility of the Court was for the network of restrictive conditions imposed upon industry, which added enormously to costs. An understanding with labour which would abolish these trammeling and often impractical conditions, even if it meant an increase in wages, would in many cases be an advantage to the community. Industrial Councils Favoured.

Mr. Poison referred to the conclusions of the Mond Conference in favour of councils of industry. Labour would be given an intelligent interest in the management of industry. It would be able to appreciate the problems Avhich confront business and to realise the difficulties of management. It was hoped by this means to create efficiency and so cut down costs. There was sufficient evidence already that much might be dono in this direction in New Zea-> land. The discovery that one of the best organised and most efficient boot factories in New Zealand might by a rearrangement of its machinery alona reduce the cost of manufacture by 12-i per cent spoke for itself. A. complete stocktaking in conjunction with labour might easily reduce costs and actually; at the same time increase wages. For Imperial Preference. Mr. Poison said that nothing so seriously affected the costs of the primary prouueer as a protective tariff, bom© lorin of tariff was essential. All that the farmers could hope to do was to see; that their interests were not neglected when tariff revisions were made, and to throw their weight on the side of Imperial preference, "which," he said, "is another name lor an adjustment to enable the .British Empire to trade within itself without such tariff barriers as may be raised against the foreigner* Imperial preference does not necessarily mean free trade, but it is a lung way nearer it than the existing plan and might, in the long run, amount to practical free trade." Mr. Poison also referred to the local operation of combines in control of commodities, and asked: "Are our distribution costs reasonable in this country? Are there no articles of common daily consumption which, through the manipulation of combinations or the inefficiency of our system, are costing the consumer too much? It is not necessary to particularise. Most of us have ideas about this question. We believe that reduction in can be brought about by these moans also." Farmers Must Act Together. Id was his firm belief, Mr. Poison said in conclusion, that a national stocktaking along the lines he had sketched was essential to the restoration of sound and prosperous conditions. '"The effect woidd bo enormous." A 10 per cent reduction in costs would mean not only an increase of 10 per cent in spending power, but an increaso to a very much greater extent in development through the increased confidence created by healthier conditions. Unemployment would instantly disappear. Labour would find employers competing for its services, in all probability at rates which would further improve the standard of living. "How are we to bring about these results? It can only bo dono by solid educational propaganda in the first place, by sticking together and unanimously demanding of our rulers that the importance of this i matter merits more than party political consideration, and finally by concerted action on our part that will leave no room for misunderstanding."