Problems of To-day

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 104, 27 January 1931, Page 7

Problems of To-day

Sir, —Your correspondent, “Face the Facts,” is like the majority of the “cockies”—they fail to see beyond the slip rails. “Face the Facts” would make the going easier for the “cockie” but would penalise everyone else in so doing. In his alphabetically arranged suggestions “O” seems to be most sensible of the lot; however, the! sooner the farmer realises the fact that he is in a proper jam the better. Repealing the land tax is only helping the mortgage shark. It is admitted that land in New Zealand is priced far too high, and in many cases will have to be reduced 75 per cent, to enable the primary producer to carry on. Gone is the day of high prices for our primary products, and the sooner we realise it the better. Here is the position—can we compete with Russia and' the Eastern nations on the London niarket, or in fact, anywhere? The answer is obvious; the New Zealand farmers’ overhead, land, wages, etc., puts him right out of the running. For him to forge ahead and produce more will not help, for it is a well-known fact that the world is over producing. Great Britain crashed the wheat grower of Australia and Canada by buying the Russian grain at 1/6 per bushel. To my mind, the only hope for the primary producer is far Great Britain to lead the way by trading only within the Empire. In doing this she will have to pay three times as much for her foodstuffs. Will she do it? Ask Mr. Forbes. Your correspondent “Face the Facts is like many other primary producers—he thinks he is the whole shooting match, but I would much rather see our secondary industries pampered. I have just returned from Australia, where I visited every State. All are suffering, Queensland as much as New South Wales. Properties have dropped in value 50 per cent., and are likely to drop more: rents have dropped accordingly. A five-roomed bungalow in the best part of Brisbane can be rented for £1 per week—before the depression it rented for £4/10/-. Foodstuffs have dropped in price, and butchers’ meat is cheaper in Australia than here, but the remarkable thing is the grower gets more there than here. I firmly believe that Australia will come out of the depression before New Zealand, for the simple reason Australia has a larger population; she has a large group of secondry industries; in short, she is more self-supporting: furthermore, she has entered into a good trade treaty- with Canada, and she also has a grip on trade with Java and the East. We in New Zealand are isolated, and depend solely on the Home market, which at the present time will only buy our goods ata price well below the actual cost of production, so let us face the facts properly. Our army of unemployed is increasing daily; we have little or no productive Work to put (hem to; we cannot let them starve. Personally, I think it would be better to open camps and provide food and shelter. With proper organisation it would be 50 per eent. cheaper than the present form of sustenance. Let us cut out all waste where possible. Should a war break out to-morrow, money would flow and the necessary machinery would be ,in operation in a few days to provide cannon fodder, so in times of peace, when we are facing one of the worst crises this country has ever encountered, surely ’-e can organise, check up on our primary products and secondary industries, and see where we can get together and help solve our great problem. In conclusion, T am of the opinion that no matter what Government is in power it would not lessen our present difficulties very much, but a price-fixing commissioner could be appointed with newer to prevent any section of our business community from exploiting the consumers. If one is appointed I w-ould suggest he deals immediately with meat prices. I am also of the opinion we should change many of our patriotic business slogans, and substitute “Buy New Zealand goods and help improve New Zealand conditions.”—l am, * EAGING THE FACTS.