LETTING IT GO!

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 156, 3 July 1937, Page 10

LETTING IT GO!

MONEY SPENDING. CARS AND CONFECTIONERY. PEOPLE BUY LUXURIES. Motor cars, confectionery, pickles and f-.'ii lees —so the money goes round. The Dominion is enjoying more prosperity and a greater spending power than for many years past, and the old question "Where is the money going" has an illuminating answer in the import figures of I!>.'!7. Believe it or not, New Zealand is buying luxuries in quantities that intimate that luxuries are going in greater or lesser degree into every home. Almost everyone has a sweet tooth — to lie replaced later by a false one if dentists' warnings are not heeded. At the moment the Dominion is indulging its sweet tooth. You can have that statement verified by the sweet shop keeper or the Government Statistician. In the abstract of statistics it is shown that from January to April, 1!)37. a total of 4.'{2.!)2711> of confectionery was imported into New Zealand, of a total value of £;V2.9:i'2. That is in contrast with an importation in the first four months of last year of 202,2211b of a value of £21,672. Pickles and sauces totalling ">l6B gallons were imported in the first four months of 1936; this year the total at the end of April was 10,113 gallons. Racing Taxation. From day to day, as race meetings have been held, increases in totalisator investments have been noted; but here is an interesting aspect. For the year ended March 31, 15*36, racing taxation amounted to £368.850. For the year ended March 31, 1937, that total had swollen .to £510,897. Motor car dealers have had an exceptionally busy time. They felt the reaction immediately there was an increase in the wool and butter cheques, and hundreds of new cars went into the country.- Licenses for motor vehicles of one sort and another have grown from 187,009 in 19.36, ta 255,748 at the end of March, 1937; and in the four months of-this year 11,441 motor vehicles were imported, in comparison with 9734 for the- same period last year. The amount of motor spirit imported totalled 28,086,348 gallons, in comparison with 23.773,361 gallons at April, 1936. Similarly radio' sets have come in or been manufactured here in tremendous numbers. Local radio manufacturers have been constantly increasing their output, often working overtime to keep pace with the demand. It is stated that the time is rapidly approaching when there will be i a radio in every home in the country. | Another Reflex. Imported spirits show another reflex of. the country's spending. In contrast with 72,730 gallons of whisky imported in the first four months of 1936, this [year there were 103,678 gallons imported. Gin, Geneva and- schnapps increased from 29,271 gallons at April, 1936, to 38,877 gallons at April, 1837. Even ale, cider and stout showed a bi<* increase—from 16,060 gallons to 26,955 g«non», ..

All .these things come under the head'Sk■ T y l* nes > but the increase in importation is general. Xew ®^°*hrP. a bsorbing a lot of the extra spendin|fiVpower of the people. General drapery sSpwed an increase in the importation figures for the first four months this year, the total value of the imports for 1937 being £115,470, in contrast with' £90,622 in 1936.

In the_ reaction after the depression people aTe spending freely and liberally. .There are those in this country, as in the. overseas countries, who forecast another depression within a few years, but at the moment the sun (economically, at any rate) is shining, and hay is being made with vigour.

"What is the use of saving?" said one man this morning. "Those of us who did so prior to the last depression lost it all and gained little benefit from it. If we get this national superannuation scheme that will protect us in later years. In any case, it looks as though there might be war at any time, and we don't know how that will affect us. Why should we save? It was too much hoarding that caused the last depression. I've done without things for too many years now. I'm jroing to have a bit of what I want now."