IF ENGLAND FAILS

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 79, 28 December 1925, Page 7

IF ENGLAND FAILS

OUR INTEREST IN BUYING BRITISH GOODS.

(To the Editor.)

Sir,—lu an article, “Introspection in Industry ” in the last issue of the “Round Table,” appears the following general summing up of the pi esent trade conditions in England: “On the best interpretation, however, Great Britain remains with over one million unemployed at a time, when foreign competition is becoming more intense.” This sentence should be given the widest publicity throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand, for is it not to us in New Zealand the writing on the wall? Seven vears after the termination of the war ive find England’s trade, as a whole, so depressed that the best that can be said about it is that to-day over one million workers are unemployed and foreign competition becoming more intense. The great fact, howcvei, for New Zealanders to grasp is that upon England’s prosperity depends the livelihood of every person in New Zealand. If England’s trade declines our trade must decline, because England is our customer for 87 per cent, of our exports. How can England pav us good prices, or, indeed, buy our produce at all, if her people arc unable to make the ncccssarv wages? Even the most casual observer sees that prices and demand for our wool, meat, butter, and cheese are steadily falling, and no prophetic vision is necessary to foresee that within six months our exports will probably fall below our imports; or, iii other words, our income will be less than our expenditure, with the inevitable result' which follows such a disastrous state of affairs. It is not due, primarily, to the want of a price control board or the operation of monopolies that is accounting for the present depressed state of our produce prices as some suppose, but rather to the simple economic fact that England cannot afford to buy New Zealand produce m lhe same quantity or at the same juices as previously. New Zealand has just passed through a year of unexampled prosperity, and'should thereby have been able‘to wipe off a large portion of her war boom liabilities. _No doubt we have reduced these liabilities, but is there not a tremendous amount of “bad stock” still on our books? It is estimated by some experts that certain lands in New Zealand valued today at 50 millions are not worth more than 10 millions. Whether rye like it or not, economic values will reassert themselves, and this apparent asset of 40 millions, will disappear. Are we in a position to face this loss without serious hardship ? Good times enable us to postpone revealing the true value of our national stock, but bad times have an awkward knack of disclosing fictitious valuations. New Zealand, in common with all countries in the early stages of development, depends upon borrowed money’. Who supplies this money ? England. Can England, bled white by the war, depressed in trade, and suffering from industrial unrest due to the inevitable readjustment of economic conditions, still continue to find for us the loans we require at the rate we can afford to pay’ ? It is more than doubtful. To whom can we then turn ? America lias experimented in loaning money to Australia, but it is quite unlikely to be repeated, as such loan proved unpopular amongst American financiers. Can we look to America to take our produce in place of England ? America sells to us all she possibly can, from motor-cars to chewing gum; movie films to shaving soap. But how does she reciprocate ? By shutting out our produce from her markets by the highest tariff in the world. How long can England stand paying her cash to us and watch us spend it in America and Canada ?

It is freely acknowledged that English motor-cars are superior in value to American or Canadian, even at some apparent disparity in price; also that the English car* is vastly cheaper to operate. American propaganda has persistently fostered the idea in New Zealand that English cars are not suitable for our conditions. During the war there was no opportunity to prove otherwise. It ’S entirely different to-day, and the wonderful increase in the percentage of English cars and trucks imported as against American is due solely to the belated realisation by New Zealand buyers that English motors are not only eminently suited to meet any local conditions, but their endurance and low-running costs outdistance all competitors England is paying the dele to a million and a ouarter unemployed and their dependants. Everyone with the welfare of the community at heart admits this canrot go on. It is degrading and pernicious paying employable men who are unable to give any return for the money paid, ami, in addition, declining trade is mnkiim this financial burden increasingly difficult England imports annually £500.000,000 worth of food; New Zealand supplies n portion of this amount. England lies land at present not fielding an adcountc return. What is more likely than that England will find some scheme to place her dole-receiving un-

employed on this non-productive land and produce some portion of this £500,000,000 worth of food ? If she does, is this added competition not going to correspondingly affect both prices and the quantity of New Zealand exports ? How much better if we can do our part in assisting England to absorb her unemployed in making goods to exchange for our produce. This must react to the benefit of both countries and assist keeping the rates of interest and exchange at a reasonable level in New Zealand. Let anyone take pencil and paper and make a list of the goods we are importing, and he will be astounded at the articles purchased from America which, generally speaking, can be purchased as well, or better, from England. I am not suggesting we should buy our requirements from England from sympathetic or patriotic motives, but. simply because it is vital to our own interests to do so. If New Zealand alone imported all her requirements in motorcars from England it would have the effect of creating a business boom in one of the most important industries in England, and, in addition, would absorb most of England’s unemployed engineers.

New Zealanders must realise that if England fails, we fail. Let every man and woman parse, therefore, before buying even the smallest article and ask, “Is it English?” If you do buv English goods, you are contributing directly towards your own prosperity. If you buy foreign goods which England can supply economically, vou are just as surely contributing towards your own downfall. Each Englishman earning reasonable wages is a potential purchaser of New Zealand’s goods. Clearly it is up to us I. > purchase English goods to save ourselves. —T am. etc., L. ASHCROFT EDWARDS. Wellington, December 21