POSITION STILL CRITICAL.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20103, 5 December 1930, Page 15

POSITION STILL CRITICAL.

COAL MINERS' DISPUTE. BALLOT ON A STRIKE PKOBABLK (V KITED PBEBS ASSOCIATION—BY ELHCTMC TBLEOEAPH—COPraIQHT.t (Received December 4th, 7 p.n; LONDON, December 4 The conference between, the Prim«Minister (Mr llamsay MaeDonald) ami the miners lusted two hours, after which Mr W. Graliam (president of iho Uoaid of Trade) and Mr E. Shinwei! (Secretary for Minos) conferred for further two hours. Ti>o tuged the necessity of giving the Aei timo in which to succeed. The deligates came away perplexed and nicrely able to report .Mr Mat.-Donalu's opinion to the miners, but it is not expected that they will be able to overcome the opposition to the spread-ov -r hours. The position remains rritieaj. A national ballot on a strike is n- v regarded as a strong probability.

chance of doubling his money in a fv-r years. (Laughter.) He urged finally that the prcposn's for a moratorium were unei;l!ed i- . and should be deprecated. Imposing Hardship. Mr William Machin thoug!.'. tout u.. indictment against a moratorium sd.-.'ul.: be an indictment against its p..n-.Tu; character. All people had tiifi'er.-r.-ideas of it, some even regarding it a sort of unknown cure-all. The fac. was patent that while it would s'.iii some people wh were in dirtioultie-. :: would impose hardship on another which would have its business restrict ed. It was surely no good giving people relief if by that the hands of others were tied. "You should not cry restriction of a general character to cover a multitude of individual transactions," counselled Mr Machin. People were talking about a moratorium because they were learning to fly to the Government to impose restrictions when individual enterprise was not successful. The business of pegging-up values was like prevarication —one had to go on with it. No sooner would one department of life -be- fixed t' '.n another one would cry out. and then another, until business would be at a standstill. Instead of addiug restrictions, the Government should encourage separate and individual adjustments. The Council would oppose the idea of the Government stepping in and forcing people to tie their hands. To encourage mutual, private adjustment was the way out of the difficulty. Efforts to Help Farmers. Mr W. H. Nicholson said that although some form of relief was necessary, a moratorium would be of very little service. At present the man. working the farm was the man looking for relief; ho had nothing, and he was the man who would go to the Government for help, heedless of future consequences. In other cases, these men might be getting unfair treatment privately; and they, too, would appeal to the Government. The chairman (Mr A. O. Wilkinson. < se d he thought all would agree that while they did not favour a moratorium, they were not relaxing their efforts to help the farming community. Mr Norton Francis suggested that the banking and legal communities should be included in the motion. Mr Mac Gibbon said that he was sorry discussion had not been taken in committee. He agreed with what had been said, but there were a number of things which he would like to add. The CounciJ decided to go into committee and hear Mr Mac Gibbon, after first passing Mr Agar's motion, with. Mr Francis's amendment.

UNWISE AND IMPOLITIC. SIR HAROLD BEAUCHAMP'S VIEWS. (I'KESS ASSOCIATION TELEGB&K.) WELLINGTON, December 4. Interviewed to-day, Sir Harold Beauchamp expressed the view that » moratorium would bo unwise and impolitic. Ho stated that it would hare been wise had the moratorium been lifted after the signing of the armistice, when, owing to high prices, farmers would have been able to discharge or largely reduce their financial obligations, instead of purchasing high price lands, the result of which hati been so disastrous to the farming community. To-day, although many farmers wer« unable to pay interest they were being treated with the utmost leniency by the mortgagees. Financial institutions recognised tlmt it would be unwise to force the farmers to walk off their lands, and, therefore, said "Carry on. Do the best you can till financial conditions improve." In addition a moratorium woukt have a most deleterious effect upon New Zealand credit abroad, particularly on the London market. Furthermore, people in New Zealand wou!<i look askance for applications for monev to be advanced on land. It was only a question of time before the Stato would be the sole mortgagee, winch was a position none would care to set--

AUCKLAND OPINIONS. (PB23S ASSOCIATION" TZI.KOU Ail . AUCKLAND, December 4. Commenting on the suggested moratorium, Mr Robinson, secretary to the Auckland Farmers' Union, said he believed it necessary merely as a bridging policy to give farmers a fair deal and prevent tho Dominion from losing, a great many expert farmers. A short moratorium until Parliament could deal with the question mow thoroughly seemed to b« indicated. Something much more drastic migfcbe necessary if the present prices continued. A financial authority oppo&c-d shf proposal, saying that the cure worse than the disease. He did not see what good the moratorium did before, nor what <;ood it could do now. The institution of which he was heaci always helped the trier, and the nontrier deserved no consideration.

ECONOMIC CONFERENCE. (Pr.ESS ASSOCIATION TELEGRAii.., WELLINGTON, December 4. An important conference to be held at Wellington next Wednesday has been called by the Associated Chambers of Commerce to consider the present economic position of the country. It is anticipated that it will be attended byrepresentatives of the Chambers, tht Employers' Federation, the Farmers'' Union, and tho Sheepowners' FecUiia.tioa,